Vivian Scott Chew

From Far Rockaway to the global stage, Vivian Scott Chew has spent a career turning "no" into new lanes. In this  episode of Mixed and Mastered, Vivian sits down with Jeffrey Sledge to share her boundary-breaking journey—from becoming ASCAP’s first African-American female rep and launching the Rhythm & Soul Awards, to fielding a call from Little Richard and reshaping the global music landscape.

With humor, insight, and fierce determination, Vivian recounts pivotal moments: a 37-minute unemployment window that ended with a bike crash and a new career, bringing dancehall to America through Epic Records, and founding Time Zone International—the first Black-owned international music marketing company.

We dive into the glamour and grit of the business, the myths she dismantled (like “Black music doesn’t sell overseas”), and the legacy she’s building today through the Power to Inspire foundation with her husband, Ray Chew—including a mobile studio changing lives in real time.

This episode is a tribute to vision, perseverance, and the power of building what doesn’t yet exist. Vivian’s story is not just about music—it’s about movement. Don’t miss it.

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Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's guest is a record industry legend, vivian
Scott Chu.
Vivian is an industrytrailblazer.
She was the first woman to workat ASCAP and went on to be the
EVP of A&R at Epic Records,where she brought dancehall to
America with Shabba Ranks,little Vicious and Patra.
She reintroduced the legendGeorge Clinton as well.
She then launched Time ZoneInternational, the first

(00:23):
black-owned company of its kind,putting artists like Joe Scott,
india, irie and JoJo on theglobal map.
She's the co-founder of ChewEntertainment with her husband,
ray Chew.
They have sold-out shows atCarnegie Hall, had events for
the National Urban League, theJackie Robinson Foundation, big
stages, big moments.
This one's going to be special.

(00:44):
Vivian Scott Chew is next onMixed and Mastered.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,the podcast where the stories of
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
people who have shaped the soundof music.
We're pulling back the curtainon what it takes to make it in
the music business.

(01:05):
These are the stories you won'thear anywhere else, told by the
people who live them.
This is Mixed and Mastered.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,where I'm talking to my music
mom.
She's known me since 1996, Ithink it was she hired me in

(01:28):
1996.
Let me rephrase that VivianScott Chu.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Hi, hey, baby, and you know I am nowhere old enough
to be your mom.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
You were Well my music big sister.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
No, no, no, I will be your fairy godmother.
How about that?
Can I say fairy godmother?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
It could take that too.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I'm great.
How about yourself?

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Good, you're looking good.
I love your background, I loveyour hair, I love your makeup.
I love your swag.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
As the kids say master I really appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
I really appreciate that and I think people are
going to enjoy this conversationfrom a music veteran who's done
so much, and I want to let thepeople know what what you've
done, from your mouth to god'sears.
So let's start at the beginning.
You're waved in far rock away.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mean the beginning there's and actually there's a
few guys Kelly Price, mc Searchand some of the earlier handball
champions of the world.
We all come from Far Rockaway,a very interesting place to grow
up at the time that I grew up.
What?

Speaker 1 (02:35):
was it like.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Segregation.
We grew up in a predominantlyHasidic Jewish neighborhood.
It was definitely them on oneside of the street, us on the
other side of the street.
I'm not talking about our block, our whole block was black with
black ownership.
It was a main street and therewere streets that shot off at
this main street and youdefinitely knew to stay on your

(02:58):
side of the street.
And you know, I mean I am in my60s and I mean I am in my 60s,
which doesn't seem like thatlong ago when it comes to
segregation, because I remembernot being able to eat at the
Woolworths and sit at thecounter.
I remember my mom buyingclothes one size larger and then
taking them to the dressmakerbecause Black people were not

(03:19):
allowed to try on clothes.
So that really wasn't that longago.
But grow up in Far Rockaway was, you know, it makes me the
beach girl that I am.
I grew up right off beach nightstreet and the water was always
, always my safe place.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
So tell me what your, where your passion for music
came from.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
My passion for music came from growing up in the
church.
I'm a church girl, all right,so my mother was secretary of
the church.
My father was the head of thetrustees, basically the dude
that ran everything.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
And I went to church eight days a week and I noticed
very early in my childhood if Ihad to be a church it was always
about the choir.
It was always about the choir,it was always about the music.
And gospel music to this dayhits me in the same space that
funk music hits me and the samespace that house music hits me.

(04:15):
And my husband, Ray, who's amusician, said the commonality
between the three is that theyuse a lot of minor, ninth and 11
chords all three of them.
So that's where it resonates onme.
So you can't tell me that musicand our bodies and our spirits
are not one, it's all.

(04:35):
I never wanted to do.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Oh yeah.
So I'm obviously going to godeeper, to the music, but, like
in reading, I don't know why Ididn't notice.
I didn't know you went toGeorgetown University.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I did.
I'm a proud Georgetown Collegedropout.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
How was it?
I mean because I know it's apredominantly white school.
It's always been, but how wasit back then?

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, there's a very specific reason why I went to
Georgetown because my plan wasnot to go to college.
I was a professional volleyballplayer and so I was going to.
I had this whole grand planthat I was going to go and go to
Europe before a lot of blackathletes were doing that I'm
talking about this is in theseventies and to go to Europe
and make my claim to fame andlive there.

(05:19):
I've always wanted to liveoutside the U?
S.
I have even more reason now towant to live outside the US
Exactly.
Hey, that may come to fruition.
But so my mom said OK, so planA didn't work.
Plan B is you got to take yourass to college.
Because I went to an all whiteJewish private school in Long
Island called Woodman Academyand I just picked DC because it

(05:41):
was the blackest place on themap.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
It was Chocolate City , chocolate, city, chocolate.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
City?
Absolutely, and that's how Iended up at Georgetown and spent
a year there.
I went.
This ain't happening, and youknow, I mean full transparency.
I had to figure out a reasonnot to go to college anymore for
my mother not to kill me, so Icame up with this great idea.
I know what I'll get marriedand I did Wow to kill me, so I
came up with this great idea.
I know what?
I'll get married and I did Wow.
I got married, which was thebiggest mistake I could have

(06:09):
ever made, but also the biggestblessing, because out of that,
you know, came my, my daughter,Lauren.
And then I came back to NewYork, after being in DC and
always knew I wanted to be inthe music business, Couldn't
find a job, went to work for alandscape architect and then
started dating someone else whowas in the music business.
Couldn't find a job, went towork for a landscape architect
and then started dating someoneelse who was in the music
industry, an engineer, and hehad a professor and her name was

(06:31):
Louise West.
She was an entertainmentattorney and that's where
everything changed for me.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah, I love Louise.
She's a definition of an OG.
She's helped too many people tomention and I actually want to
have her on here.
I haven't reached out to heryet but she's on my.
I have a big list in my phoneand she's on my list that I
really want to talk to her,cause she I know she got some
stories, so tell me about howthat happened, how you got the
job with Louise and how, how ityou know how it came to fruition

(07:00):
.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, total serendipity, yeah, total
serendipity, when I found backin the day we used to look for
jobs in the newspaper.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
I got my first job.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
And there was an ad for an assistant to an
entertainment attorney.
His name was Jeffrey Hafer andwhen I went for the interview it
was an office that was shapedas a rectangle and so the
principals were all in thecorners.
So Jeffrey Hafer and hisbusiness partner, another very

(07:32):
well-known entertainmentattorney by the name of Ina
Maybach.
They had one suite.
Another suite was the lategreat Kendall Minter, who I also
ended up working for at onepoint in my life, and then
Louise was at one point and Ican't remember who was at the
other.
But I interviewed with Jeff andIna and as I was leaving there
was a table outside of an officewith a phone on it and there

(07:53):
were three lines and all threewere lit up and ringing and when
I looked in the corner therewas this little demure black
woman that had the phone and youcould tell that she was just.
And I said what's your name?
She said Louise West and I wenthi, louise West office.
Can I help you?

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Wow, wow.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
No, literally.
And then, after we got all thephones settled down, she said
come here, who are you?
And I told her, and then itturned out that she had been a
former professor of the man thatI was dating, who was an
engineer, a recording engineer,and that's how that all sort of
came together.
And I said you just look likeyou needed some help.
She said well, you know, leaveme your phone number and we'll

(08:30):
talk.
And in less than a week Ibecame her assistant.
So, needless to say, I gotoffered the other job, which
paid more, but I was just soexcited to be.
I never had met any Black womanin the music industry before.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
So any black woman in the music industry before?
So, um, yeah, louise, whoturned wow 83 this year.
That is why you just picked upher.
That's funny, that's a goodstory, like.
So I mean the music obviouslyvery different now than it was
back then.
Um, what were your firstimpressions of like work from
from the legal side, likeworking in the music business
back then?

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Well, louise represented a lot of Black music
executives and that was thetime when Black music executives
were finally getting paid thesame amount as their white
counterparts.
So Louise was that attorneythat was going in and not making
sure that they got the rightsalary, they got the right
bonuses, the right incentives,that they had points into

(09:32):
perpetuity on artists that theysigned, that their packages were
together.
So that was one side of her.
But then the other side of herwas these musicians and singers
and songwriters who used to justalways come and camp out in her
office.
And she said you know what, viv?
They may or may not sellrecords, but all one of them
needs to do is write a hit song.
And it's something calledpublishing.
And if you can hold on to that,that's like buying a prime

(09:54):
piece of real estate and you canlive out the rest of your life
on that.
And that's when I got veryinterested in this thing called
publishing and what that wasvery interested in, this thing
called publishing and what thatwas.
And so I learned aboutpublishing from Louise, which
primes me for one of my futurejobs, which I'm sure we're going
to talk.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, we definitely going to talk about.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, but you know it was a great time it was.
It was the.
It was the mid season.
There were clubs in New Yorkthat were spilling out and I
mean we were going and listeningto three or four different
bands and bands I was talkingbands with like drums and bass
and guitar and hanging out.
You know it was the music was.

(10:35):
You know, because I went to anall white private school.
You know I knew as much aboutCharlie Wilson as I did Led
Zeppelin.
So you know my music library wasvery, very vast and Louise,
coming from DC, I mean shebrought that whole funk thing to
me that I really wasn't awareof.
We just had a lot of fun.
We just had a lot of fun and Igot to meet some of her, her

(10:58):
clients, you know, like MonaScott Young, you know, started
out with Louise, but also Louiseis responsible for
Rockefckefeller records and alot of people don't realize that
she didn't know that, that sheput the deal together.
She put together missy's deal,you see was the first female
rapper to have her own labeldeal.
That was done through throughsylvia roan.
So I got, I had a really realand louise ended up hiring me

(11:21):
three times every time I decidedto quit a job or got fired from
a job, I always was able to goback home to Louise.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
I owe her a lot.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
I don't know if you remember when we were at Epic I
still remember this we haddinner.
We went to some dinner, justdinner.
And that's when I first metLouise, at the dinner that we
went to, and she was thesweetest pie and we'd talk.
She was the sweetest pie andwe'd talk and I was like so what
do you have?
And she was like I got thisgirl.
She was in this group but theygot dropped.

(11:49):
This group called Sister,somehow, had given me the
cassette that never came out,that album.
I wish I still had it.
And I was like she said thisgirl, Missy, and I was like you
have Missy.
And I remember went throughthis whole thing and I was
trying to sign her, went throughthis whole thing and I was
trying to sign her and I wastalking to Missy on the phone.
She came by the office one timeand told her mom and all this.
I went up to Rochester orElmira, wherever you were,

(12:13):
cordon of State, and the dealdidn't get done.
Louise was very helpful intrying to put that together.
Then it went to Sylvia, but shewas just really, really nice in
trying to help that move along.
She was dope.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
And an unsung hero.
So I last year decided that Iwas going to celebrate her.
So I did an event for her atthe Sunset Marquee in LA and
invited all of her colleaguesand anybody who couldn't come.
We had on video some Missy andTimberland and Mona and 40,
drake's 40.
Producer.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
I didn't know she was 40's lawyer too.
I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yes, wow.
So we gave her a wonderfulcelebration and it was one of
those things that you would havethought that she had passed on
and we were doing it.
But it was Lou.
We want you to be here and tosee how much you were loved.
We need to do that.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's what this, you know, going off on a tangent,
but that's the genesis for thisshow.
It's like I was, you know,quincy passed away and Clarence
Avon passed away and I was likeman, these people are passing
away and nobody's, some peopleare not getting to tell their
story, so I wanted to do thatthrough this medium, you know.
So tell me, I didn't.

(13:25):
I was reading your bio and Isaid some things.
I just didn't know.
Even before we, before we getto ask cap, he worked with one
of my favorite and I'd say topfive I wouldn't say 10 most
underrated writers and producers.
Yeah, kashif, yeah, and like Iwas a, I'm still got his stuff
in my phone, like I'm a massivekashifan, like anything he his

(13:48):
albums, stuff he did for thepeople.
Tell me about that.
And where you were, did youwork with?
Um, what hush?
Was hush involved with him atthat time, or was it?

Speaker 2 (13:56):
uh, he was managed by hush.
Okay, here we go.
Another serendipitous moment II left Louise, got a job at
Radio City, working in theconcert division.
This is like my dream job,because I'm being paid to watch
shows, to do shows, and I was inthe very elite booking
department.

(14:16):
So you know, it was just I gotto see.
I saw Prince, I saw Marvin Gaye, I saw Kiss.
You know.
New.
Year's Eve, put a jointunderneath everybody's seat and
went Happy New Year, so somereally iconic things.
But then my boss at the timegot his new employment contract
hurried and I went down to pickit up and the envelope was open.

(14:38):
So the envelope was open and Iread it and I went he's making
what and I'm making what.
And by this time I'm divorced,I'm a single mother, I'm taking
care of my daughter, and I wentto him and asked him for a raise
and he told me that theywouldn't be able to do it.
That was one of my firstMalcolm X moments in my in my

(14:59):
career, because it was like, ifI stand for this, I'm a fall for
anything.
So I said, well, you know whatI got to go, and I already knew
that I was going to getunemployment, and then I would
just figure it out.
I walk out of the building myhead's down, I get hit by a
bicycle, but not like where I'mlaid out on the ground, but just
tough.
And I looked up and it's Kashifand I'm like hey, how you doing

(15:21):
?
He said how you doing.
I said he's like so where areyou working?
I said well, I was working overthere until about an hour ago
he said great, I'm looking foran assistant, come work for me.
So I was unemployed for about37 minutes.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
What.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
I can't believe my God.
What's the likelihood?
Wow, and you talk about?
You're right, and I learned somuch.
We only worked together for ayear, but it was the right
timing.
He had just bought the JackieRobinson estate and he tore down

(15:57):
one of the guest houses andmade that into a studio.
So I got to see the making ofthat and the building of that
lot of those people's songs,including Lala Cope's famous you
Give Good Love.
Whitney Houston's first, firsthit was written by one of her

(16:20):
songwriters and he produced thatsong.
And then I also got to go on theroad, and that was probably one
of my most favorite parts ofall of it, because I love to
travel.
And I got to travel.
We did.
Unfortunately we didn't gooverseas, so it was only
domestic.
But I got to get on a tour busand so I learned how to be a
road manager and then how to bea tour manager, and at that time

(16:42):
I was, like you know, in mytwenties and there were no girls
that were doing it.
So of course, when it came timeto pick up the money, you know,
the male promoters didn't wantto give me the money and that
became a thing, and so then Ihad to bring call some of my
gangster friends.
Let's be like, okay, but youknow, kashif, he created a sound
.
Yes, you know, like the silverscreated a sound, jimmy and

(17:02):
titty created a sound, ellie andbabyface, teddy riley these are
all producers that you couldhear and go.
I know they did that yep.
Yep, same thing with Kashif, andfor him it was the mini-mog, it
was that bass, that, and healso had a piece of equipment
that nobody else had called asynclavier, and so what a

(17:23):
synclavier is, and it weighedabout a thousand pounds because
we had to truck it allthroughout the country.
What you call now stems wasreally what the Sinclair housed,
so his entire show, all the biglush strings and background
vocals and everything hepre-recorded onto this piece of
equipment called a Sinclair.

(17:44):
And so I got to learn a lot.
A lot of my technologybackground comes from just
sitting in the studio andwatching him do stuff.
But rest his soul.
Gone too long, gone too soon.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Absolutely Sidebar.
I've always wanted this themovie.
What's the movie?
The first Halle Berry moviethat Andre did.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Right when she was a dancer.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't know if you rememberthat movie, but in that movie
Tommy Davidson was the lead andthey had money problems and they
didn't know what to do andTommy was like I'm going to go
uptown and meet with these guys,the Halloween brothers, these
big kind of guys, and they werelike street guys.
They filmed that scene in Perksactually and, yeah, in Harlem.

(18:27):
Because Tommy was from Harlem,A lot of that movie is in Harlem
and because time was fromHarlem, A lot of that movie is
in Harlem.
And I always wondered, werethose Bo and Charles Huggins
inspired?
I always wondered.
I was like they might beCharles and Bo Huggins inspired.
You know, kind of gruff guys,you know what I'm saying.
Sounds about right, so tell meabout your going to ASCAP.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
So then, kashif, lets me go.
I'm telling you, every time,without a job, I go back to
Louise.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
You'll be hit by another bike.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
I go back to Louise and there was something that was
very influential in my careerand it was called the Black
Music Association and it wasstarted by the late great
LeBaron Taylor, who was a seniorvice president at CBS and then
Sony.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
And because of him.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
so many of us became vice presidents and we were paid
the way we were supposed to,but LeBaron Taylor, george Ware
out of Philadelphia and KennyGamble.
And so the Black MusicAssociation started in Philly
and they would have conferencesbut they would also have
seminars at different recordcompanies.
And Louise said, look, youshould go and you should

(19:35):
volunteer.
So I had a job, I was a momPlus.
I was volunteering because sheknew Louise is one of those
people that she's mama Louise,but she knows that when it's
time for you to fly she willkick you out that nest.
And you got to figure it out.
So she was basically kicking meout of the nest and saying you
need a real job with realbenefits, all of that.
And I had heard about aposition at ASCAP American

(19:58):
Society of Composers andPublishers but I didn't think
that I was qualified for it.
So I kept referring otherpeople for this position, which
was that of a membership rep.
And then, finally, they came tome and said, well, why don't
you apply?
And I just hadn't thought aboutit, and I did, and I got it,
and I ended up being the firstAfrican-American female

(20:19):
membership rep that ASCAP everhad.
Wow Good time Good, two, threeyears yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
In a very short synopsis before we're going to
go into.
You know your run at ASCAP, butplease break down very short
synopsis what ASCAP does,because I don't know if a lot of
people really know what they do.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Sure.
So there are three performingrights societies.
Ascap is one which stands forthe American Society of
Composers, authors andPublishers.
There's BMI, which is BroadcastMusic Inc.
And then there's SESAC, whichwas a privately owned company.
They recently became public.
It was a French owned company.
So anytime that you hear music,artists or who are songwriters

(21:00):
and publishers have the right tobe paid.
And so what pot of money dothey get paid out of?
It?
Is these three societies goingand collecting fees from every
radio station, tv station, nowstreaming platform, even to
supermarkets or the dentist'soffice?
Any place that you hear musichas to acquire a blanket license

(21:23):
for the right to play any ofthe music that any of these
three societies hold.
So that's ASCAP.
Louise primed me a bit inpublishing but I didn't know
about performing rights, so Ihad to do a crash course in in
in all of that.
But to be able to see some ofmy most favorite songwriters
from Stevie Wonder, lionelRichie, quincy Jones, jimmy and

(21:46):
Terry they were all ASCAPmembers and I was privy to
seeing their statements andwould be like I need to learn
how to write a song.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Crazy money, crazy money Wow.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
That's what they do.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
How long were you at ASCAP?

Speaker 2 (22:03):
I was there for three years.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
To talk about.
And again, I'm about to getfired.
This time.
This time I'm about to getfired.
This time I'm about to getfired.
This is before.
Now they have the urban musicor black music, whatever they
call it department.
It wasn't that.
There were about four or fivemembership reps.
Members would call it, would gointo the bank of secretaries,
then they would just sort oflike round robin, and so whoever

(22:28):
you got is who you got, and Ihave to tell you this story.
I remember coming in from lunchand this is when your messages
would be written, and on thispad it said Richard Penniman,
and I remember the phone number.
It was 213-657-1234.
Wow, I'll tell you why Iremember the number.
Here's a fun fact Every Hyattaround the world's phone number

(22:53):
ends in 1-2-3-4.
Check it, you'll see.
I didn't know that 213 is LA andit's a Hyatt Hyatt on Sunset.
So who's calling me?
From the Hyatt on Sunset?
And they had a room number andwhen I called I said, hi, this
is Vivian Scott for Mr Penman.
I said, hi, this is VivianScott for Mr Penman.
He said, girl, I've beenwaiting for you to call.
And I went and then Irecognized the voice.

(23:15):
It was Little Richard and hewas talking about.
He said they done stole mymoney, girl.
They helped me get it back.
But I mean, it was stories likethat and being able to help him
and being able to help a lot.
There was always money that wasunclaimed at ASCAP.
So once a year we would get arun and we would.

(23:37):
That's how I met Benny Medina.
Benny Medina was a songwriterand I didn't know he wasn't the
Benny Medina at that time andhis name was on the list and I
called him Mr Medina.
We have some money for you.
I mean that you.
I mean that's why everybodyloved me, because I was the
woman with the money.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
You was the one getting to the check.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
I was the woman with the money.
But Black Music Month I'm sorryit wasn't Black Music Month.
Billboard had its top 100songwriters of the year and for
this particular edition, the topthree pop songwriters were
Stevie Wonder, lionel Richie andQuincy Jones.

(24:12):
Black people, wow.
But there were no awards atASCAP.
They had the Pop Awards, theCountry Awards and the British
Awards.
There were no awardscelebrating Black writers.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
And there were no awards.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Exactly so.
I go to my immediate boss and Isaid you know, this isn't fair.
I'm going to write up a wholeproposal.
We need to have another awardshow.
And she said it'll never getgreenlit.
And, as a matter of fact, don'teven go to our boss's boss with
this, because it's just notgoing to happen again.
Am I going to stand up?

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
So I waited for the songwriter publisher meeting.
Asher and Simpson were in thatmeeting because they were on the
board at the time and it waslunchtime and I had all of my
stats and everything preparedand I went in and I basically
stood on top of the soapbox andI gave every single reason as to
why and I remember Nick Ashfordjust nodding me on like tell
them, tell them.

(25:06):
And I left and I had some boxesin my office because I started
to pack, because she told me Iwas going to get fired.
So I had already figured outsome hustle I was going to do.
But you know, when you, whenyou get fired, you get
unemployment.
So between unemployment andwhatever I was going to do, I
was going to be fine.
And her boss came in and he saidwhat are you doing?
And I said well, I was toldthat I was going to get fired,

(25:28):
so I figured I'd get ahead ofthe game.
And he's like stop.
He said we owe you an apology,we just never thought of it.
It wasn't that it came up andwe said no, we just never
thought about it.
And that's how the ASCAP Rhythmand Soul Awards, you know, were
birthed.
And that's over what are they?
35?

Speaker 1 (25:46):
years.
Yeah, they do it every year now.
It's a big thing.
So it's a big thing.
So it's a big thing and youstarted it.
I started it, wow.
So after ASCAP and startingawards and getting Richard
Penniman, little Richard, tocheck, you went to Polygram,
correct.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Polydor, but Polydor.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I went to Polygram.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
So there was Polydor and there was Polygram, which is
now.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Universal Music.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and Ireally was not familiar with
what A&R was.
There was very few women, letalone very few Black women, that
were doing it at the time, andI was at an event at a BMI event
actually and was approached bya gentleman by the name of Tony
Prindat who was director of A&R.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
I remember Tony Prindat.
I remember Tony Prindat.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Working under this is going to take you back, jerome
Gasper.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
I don't remember him.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
I don't remember Jerome so.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Jerome Gasper, Black Music Department.
This is when Black MusicDepartments were mighty and
strong and had their owninfrastructure and really
supported the artists that weresigned.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I tell younger executives that all the time I'm
like y'all don't understand.
There were black musicdivisions within all the majors,
like I said Polygram, cbs,which is not you know, sony,
warner Brothers and so and theywere these kind of autonomous
things.
They had their own budgets.
Like I said, they had their ownstaff, it was like, and they

(27:11):
all supported the artists andsupported each other like if
they needed a job.
It's like, oh, I don't know.
Talk to ray harris they mightget something you know like it
was that kind of thing and thatI missed that because they have
no idea how it and that moneystarted moving in a circle which
I think became a problem forthe powers that be, because it
was like the publicity peopleand the radio people, it was all

(27:31):
kind of moving in ourinfrastructure and then they
were like wait a minute, we'regiving these dudes too much
money.
We're making too many stars,but I'm sorry no no, no.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
But I do want to say something about Black Music
Department and what made them sospecial is that we were family,
yes, and it was a place whereyou could go and be nurtured
very.
You could get your wristslapped in the family.
Anybody outside the familydidn't know.
We always kept everybody else'ssecrets or mistakes or faux pas
or whatever within the familyand that's how we were.

(28:02):
You know, we groomed executivesand what I thought was with the
demise of Black Music Departdepartments is that young black
executives were not prepared,they were not groomed for what
they were going into, so a lotof their tenures was very short.
There's a lot of hiring, you'regetting a half a million
dollars and then 18 months lateryou're gone.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Cause you cause you didn't.
I remember.
I remember not going off atangent, but I remember when you
hired me, one of the firstthings you told me you called me
in the office and I rememberyou was like you know why a lot
of black executives get fired?
They don't do their expenses,they use a corporate card and go
shopping.
And I remember you told me, andI never forgot, that you can't

(28:45):
give them any reason to knockyou out.
But again, those type ofconversations don't happen now.
Yeah, from a mentor to ayounger Black executive, stuff
that you wouldn't even thinkabout.
How important that is to haveyour expenses intact.
Like you know, you can't.
You know so, but anyway we'regoing to do some dumb shit?

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Cover your ass.
I don't want to know about it.
Yeah, we all did some dumb shit.
That's ass.
I don't want to know about it.
Yeah, we all did some dumb shit.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
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Speaker 4 (29:29):
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journey today and now back toour show so you werea piger.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Was zed Eckstein at Mercury and stuff then, or no
Zed.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Eckstein came after.
He came after with Wing Recordsand then he also became head of
black music right when I wasleaving to go to Epic.
But I didn't know what A&R wasand the reason why they hired me
was because of my relationshipwith songwriters.
So at that time A&R really wasartists and repertoire.
So, jeff, you know our job wasyou sign an artist.

(30:16):
Now you got to go find songs.
You got to find a producer.
You have to be in the studiowith them.
You've got to talk to marketing, about what the brand is going
to look like, even to creativeservices, to what colors were
used.
I mean, I really we were very,very hands-on.
Unfortunately, I was veryblessed to have bosses that
allowed me to do that.
So I was a real anomaly.

(30:39):
There was no women doing thisat the time and I signed an
artist that was a game changerfor me, but not in a way you
would think.
Her name was Sapphire.
Remember there was a genrecalled Latin hip-hop.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yes, I remember her.
It was like freestyle kind ofstuff, right, freestyle
absolutely.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Absolutely, and I used to live up on Dykman Street
at that time, so I lived inEngland.
You was in the heart of it.
I was in the heart of the Latincommunity and there was a
record store that I would go toall the time played me this demo
of this girl.
We end up signing her.

(31:17):
I don't know if this happenedat Epic, but at Polygram we used
to have meetings where the A&Rdepartment, marketing department
, were in one meeting and ithappened maybe twice a year.
It was the dreaded P&L meetingand they would put up every
single artist and you would seebasically how much money you
lost.
The company, like everybody, wasin the red, so it was about how
bad in the red are you?
We were going to be in the reduntil Sapphire goes up and it's

(31:41):
in the black and we hadn't soldthat many.
But I couldn't really, and shewas very high maintenance, it
was always wardrobe and makeupand I couldn't understand it.
And the general manager, bobJamesison, at the time he rolled
his chair over and he whispered.
He said internet and thatplanted a seed for a future job.

(32:01):
That I did and I went wow, Ihad no idea that there was even
territories outside of the US.
We were so absorbed in sellingrecords in New York and LA.
Atlanta wasn't even on ourradar no, not at all.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Back then, no, no, it was all about New York and LA
and the US.
We were so absorbed in sellingrecords in New York and LA.
Atlanta wasn't even on ourradar.
No, not at all Back then.
No.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
It was all about New York and LA and the South, but
not Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, just the South.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
As a region.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
As a region.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
But there was Europe, there was Asia, there was South
America, there was all theseplaces that I never thought of
and I got a bonus.
Wow, I was the only A&R personthat got a bonus, which was
really cool.
I took everybody out to dinner.
I was like I'm keeping the restof my bonus, but we got.
Mr Chow tonight.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
More sugar satay.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Satay for everybody.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Everybody Extra sauce .

Speaker 2 (32:50):
So that was really the light bulb that went off and
it made me go, wow, thinkglobally, think about artists
that are going to sell recordsnot just in the US but outside
the US.
And you know, I'll say I have avery competitive nature and I
had heard that Warner Brotherswas about to sign one of my
favorite bands, which was ThirdWorld.
And Third World already hadsuch a base.

(33:13):
They were already internationalstars.
I just knew I had to make theright record and at that time
Black people weren't listeningto reggae.
Reggae was very much pop, popstations.
Black radio did not play Redaudiences white colleges kids
Absolutely.
So I had to figure out how toblacken third world to go into

(33:36):
the market.
So they ended up signing withme and the first single we did
was a song called forbidden lovethat featured daddy-o from
stessa sonic.
As a rapper and radio said, wedon't play rap.
That's how long ago this was wow, yeah that that's not gonna
last and you have to give me anedit without the rap on.

(33:58):
So like fine, here's the editwithout the rap, but the clubs
played it okay so we broke theoriginal version in the clubs.
We did the radio version onradio and it got played across
all the formats and so thirdworld became a hit and I got to
spend time in my favoritecountry, jamaica.
You're gonna get to that,you're gonna get that.

(34:20):
That's how jamaica, so that'show jamaica comes into.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
All of this was by signing third world wow, was
anybody else you signed atpolygram before you before you
moved on my actually my veryvery first signing is somebody
who you know as an executive.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
His name is Leotis Clyburn.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yes, yes, yes, he was an artist, that's right.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, oh wow, and we were ahead of our time.
From a sound it was very NewJack City light.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Kind of sound, but that was actually the first
person that I signed.
But, forgive me, third World, Ithink, was the most notable one
and the one that really changedmy entire career, because I was
allowed to spend time in theircountry.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Wow, that's amazing.
So after Polygram, you go tolet me go on my notes here you
go to Sony.
I'm making hits and I'm a girland I'm black, yeah, and you're
black, you run a shit and I wascute yeah, and you're a little
cutie too.
You know what I'm saying?

(35:28):
Peace to Ray.
So, after this, you go to SonyWell, it was Sony this.
You go to Sony well, it was.
You go to 550 it was CBS.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Forgive me, it was CBS when I first got there, I
was at BlackRock, okay, okay butyou know, I mean, I was in
demand and I have to say thatone of the most important people
in my career there was alwaysthis chatter from female
executives that you know the menare holding us down the

(35:57):
shoulders that I stood on.
You know Louise West as a woman, yes, and there are several
other women that I would saythat about, but the brothers had
my back, and one brother inparticular was Timmy Regisford.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
And Timmy Regisford was doing A&R at at mca, but he
was also a dj traveling theworld.
Timmy and I met at a blackmusic association convention in
miami that dick griffey came outon the beach and said to all
the black executives there'ssomething called apartheid going
on and there's a panel going onand you need to know about us.
I need all y'all to get up forthese beach chairs.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
So he shamed us and we're all like wet and sandy.
He wasn't the type of personthat you wanted to say no to I
met timmy there and we becamereally good friends.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
He introduced me to his friend merlin bob, who went
on to do um our atlantic, andElektra, who's also a DJ Yep.
They're the ones that took me inthe studio and we would put up
24 track tapes and they wouldlet me.
They would do a track by trackand they would say this is the
drums, this is the kick, this isthe snare, and they would tell

(37:05):
me how to build a song.
I really knew what therecording process was because of
these brothers and whenever Ineeded you know.
What do you think about thissong?
Or can we remix this intosomething?
I mean, Timmy was reallyhardcore in it.
Timmy was also from theCaribbean.
He's from Canada, so when Itold him about being in Jamaica

(37:26):
and hearing this one voice thatwas, I just didn't know.
I had never heard this soundbefore.
I had never heard a soundsystem, I had never heard that
much bass in my life, and it wasShaba Ranks.
Wow, wow.
And that's how I signed Shaba toEpic and I went to see him in

(37:48):
Kingston at Sun Splash, becauseit's Sunfest now.
Sun splash, and it was fiveo'clock in the morning and I was
leaning up against a tree and Iwas half asleep and all of a
sudden I heard this sound and Ilook up and it's this helicopter
.
It's five o'clock, so it'sbetween dark and just peaking,
maybe a little bit.

(38:09):
And this helicopter lands andeverybody's going crazy and
outcomes and runs up onto thestage the darkest man I've ever
seen in my life with this outfiton and he jumped up on there
and he says I'm dirty, stinkingshabba rags.
And I was like I don't knowwhat a shabba rags is but, just

(38:31):
to see that crowd.
And he rocked it until the suncame up and kendall mentor was
his attorney at the time and Ipreviously worked for kendall
yeah, I needed a job track.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yeah, you're the inside track and and and that.
That's what set the world onfire yeah, I mean I tell people
you were you.
I mean you were responsible forbreaking dance hall in America.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah, Dance hall always existed.
You know, dance hall was toJamaicans what hip hop was to
African Americans, but it was sounderground, yes, and there was
such a mistrust of me by theJamaican community that I was
going to change their Shaba.
So my biggest, my first hurdlewas trying to convince them that

(39:18):
I was not going to do that.
And it was very calculated.
Shaba's release was a very,very strategic, calculated
journey between radio A&R,marketing, creative touring.
I mean we really all went intothat 20th floor conference room

(39:39):
with Tommy Mottola sitting atthe head and we figured it out.
And two Grammys later it wasfigured out.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
You really did figure it out.
Yeah, you broke it.
I mean, they had Super Catupstairs and he did well too.
Oh, he did great, he did great.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
I had Oprah.
I knew Mosey.
These were all Columbia acts.
Yep Waller Girl, yeah.
Catra.
All signed by a Jamaican woman,maxine Stowe.
And you know what I was talkingto?
Lisa Cortez.
Lisa was at Island at the timewhen she signed Booju and while
I was talking to Lisa I said youknow, we need to do a

(40:17):
documentary called the WomenBehind the Dance, and the reason
why I want to call it that isthat every major dance hall
artist that was signed to amajor label was signed by a
woman.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
I didn't know that.
That's right.
I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Actually not black.
Chrissy Barber too.
Women, wow.
So we're the women behind thedance.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember.
So when I was at Jive we had a,I went down to Jamaica to work
with Steely and Cleavey.
Yeah, I bought chip food forthe food stickers there and we
did some records.
We had a good time.
I still I still say to this dayI believe they took us to the
same place where they filmed theclub scene in belly.
I think that was the place Iwas like.

(41:02):
I think that it was amazing.
Um, but I tell people how Iwent, when I went with chip and
you know still including, we hada great time and they treated
us great and everything.
But then when I was working withyou, you took me down there I
don't know if you remember this.
You took me to Jamaica.
Yeah, you took me to Jamaicaand we went.
We were in Jamaica with stillin Cleveland.
We were downtown and when I waswith you, I was uptown and we

(41:27):
went to this nice lady's house.
I remember we had food at thisreally nice lady's house.
We went to Tufkong.
We went to Tufkong and we metwith Sly and Robbie.
We met with Sly and Robbie.
I was just like this is BobMarley's spot and I'm going to
be talking to Sly and Robbie.

(41:47):
Sly was way more talkative andRobbie was quiet.
Bobby didn't say anything.
But then I remember I startedtalking to him because I was
talking to him about Grace Jonesand I was like, tell me your
bass lines on like.
And he started talking back tome and I remember when we left
you looked at me.
You was like, how did you dothat?
How did you get Robbie to talk?
I didn't know, I didn't know hedidn't talk.

(42:09):
We had me and Robbie had areally good conversation that
day.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
We started really opening up See, this is people
on iPhones, so we don't have anycaptures of this.
It's it's all here and here.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Oh yeah, it's all in your head and in your heart.
Yeah, and there was nodistractions, like sick of no
phone.
So you just or let me check mytexts, or whatever.
So before we move forward, tellme a little about your.
Give me a crazy story, if youcan.
You know, without incriminatinganybody, about working at Epic

(42:40):
With whatever artist or whateversituation, again, without
getting nobody in trouble.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
I have one, okay, I mean, the reason why I was able
to have full autonomy in a genrethat nobody understood was
because of my boss, hankCaldwell.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Another Don.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
The Don Dada right.
And Hank said I signed Shperfor $175,000.
In Jamaica in the newspapers ithad it that he was signed for
millions of dollars, which inJamaican dollars it was.
And I remember Hank saying baby, I'm going to give you $75,000.
I don't even know what he'ssaying.

(43:21):
I don't even know what he'ssaying.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
I can hear Hank saying that too.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
I gave you the PG version of what he said.
He gave me full reign and heempowered me with every one of
those departments.
You know, before I tell you thecrazy story, the reason why I
say that is that when you lookat Shabba's first album, it was
called as raw as ever.
And I went down to the creativedepartment and they had all of
the photos from the photo shootand I said it's that one.

(43:48):
And it was the photo of himwhere he's looking down, his
nose is flared and he has achain that's sort of flipped,
that they wanted to airbrush itflat.
And I said I want all of theimperfections.
The name of the album is calledas Was Ever.
I have to convince his bassthat he has not changed.
I can't have him.
Hi, I'm Shower Ranks.

(44:10):
So it was because of Hanktelling all the heads of the
departments you got to let herlead on this.
If she's going to fall, she'sgoing to fall, but if she wins,
she wins.
But my crazy story is that Isigned a very young dance hall
artist named Little Vicious, andVicious was 13 when.

(44:32):
I signed him and he was broughtto me by a man who ran a
production company and Viciouswas signed to his production
company.
So, naturally, you're supposedto sign the production company
and they're the furnishingcompany for the artist.
But I'm looking at the dynamicand realizing he's going to take
all this little boy's money.

(44:52):
So I went to court in order todo the deal directly with
Vicious and Vicious' mom, andall the money was put in trust
until he was 18 years old, whichis why Vicious ended up having
money when he turned 18.
Well, unfortunately, the headof the production company did
not appreciate that I did thatand he sent a message saying

(45:14):
that he was basically going tokill me.
Well, he didn't know who I knewand who I knew was the late
great Don.
Taylor and who I knew was thelate great Don Taylor.
Don Taylor managed Bob Marley.
Don Taylor was a gangsterliving in Kingston and Don I
made one phone call and there'sa guy, a very well-known

(45:35):
Jamaican, who went and visitedDonovan at his house and when
Donovan opened the door he had agun to his head and he said and
he started naming off all ofDonovan's kids' names and he
said if a hair is off her head,we're going to start with the
oldest and work our way to theyoungest.
They're all going to go.
Don't do it and he didn't.

(45:57):
I'm still here and the rest ishistory.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
See, that's music business.
That was music business, thatwas music shit.
You know, I'm saying wow, wow.
I remember the first time Iheard little vicious, I was
living in harlem and they werepleased to play.
Yeah, he's avengers out on125th and I thought he was a
girl.
That was dope.
And it took me like a while tofigure out that was a little boy

(46:22):
because his voice is so high.
When he was young, you know,yeah, yeah, that record was dope
.
Yeah, he was dope, that guybrought us Freaks.
Yeah, freaks, yep.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Yeah, but the first week of Vicious' album release
he got shot and we lied and saidthat he was playing with a gun
and it went off.
But actually he was, you know,a kid from Bed-Stuy that was
doing stuff and being insituations he shouldn't have
been in, yeah.
So now his leg is all messed up.
I have to do a video.

(46:52):
The first single was called theGlock, so we did PSAs for
anti-gun violence because I hadto flip the story around.
And then we did a song and I'mskipping around, but here's
another interesting story.
We did a song called Nika,produced by Clark Kent.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
God bless him.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
And Clark brought me the song and it was using a
sample that I love.
I took it to Puff because Ireally appreciated his opinion.
And.
I said what do you think ofthis?
He's like it's all right.
And I said what do you think ofthis?
And he was like it's all right.
And I said, okay, well, I'mgoing to put it out anyway
because I really love it.
And the sample was the IsleyBrothers' Between the Sheets.
And three months before wereleased our record, puff

(47:37):
released.
Biggie Smalls using my sample.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
God bless you, dude.
Before we move to the time zone, I want to talk about George
Clinton.
Yeah, who you signed, and youknow, just do you talk?
It's your story.
You tell me about signing himand everything.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
You say George and I automatically soften.
You know, I met George when Iwas 14 and he was doing a show
at Radio City Music Hall and thetour bus was parked in front of
the Ed Sullivan Theater onBroadway and I was walking and
saw on the top it saidmothership.
And I knocked on the door andthe door opened and all the

(48:17):
smoke started coming out and Isaid, excuse me, what's a
mothership?
And so one of the band membersis like you know, I'm 14.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
But I'm looking like I'm 21.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
A little young hottie , I would get this.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
And he's like and I was with my best friend at the
time he said well, come on inand we'll tell you what a
mothership is.
And emerges George.
And he's got that voice.
He goes, hold him, and I saidI'm 14.
And he looked at all of them.
He said jailbait.
I had never heard of that termbefore in my life.
And so, george, basically hecame off the bus, he told me

(48:52):
what a mothership was.
He said we're doing a show atRadio City, if you really want
to come.
And I was like, oh, I reallyreally want to be in the music
business and I want to do shows.
And he says, well, then youshow me, you show up.
He said we have somethingcalled load in.
It's at 8 AM.
I will leave, make sure yourname's at the door and if you
show up you'll be able to seehow we put our show on, and then
there's something called loadout and you can stay for that

(49:13):
and that.
So that was the first concertthat I saw, from the beginning
to the end.
And then George and I you knowI'm 14.
He has no reason to have me inhis life.
So we parted.
I don't remember how we got backtogether, but it was 1996.
George decided he wanted tomake another record.
I was then heading up the urbanmusic department for 550 Music.

(49:34):
We signed him.
George was in his 50s, later50s, and we decided we were
going to fly a mothership again.
So we did a record called theAwesome Power of a Fully
Operational Mothership.
It's a long title.
We shortened it to Tiapafoamand flew a mothership in Central
Park and it was the first timethat he, bootsy and Bernie had

(49:55):
performed together in 20 yearsand unfortunately it ended up
being the last time that theywould all perform together.
They would all perform together.
But here again it's those minorninth and 11 chords that George
and his music use that remindme of the same feeling of when
I'm in church, and so I've beena fan, I've been a friend, I am

(50:15):
consider myself family with him.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
I got him as.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
Last January, he and I Iproduced a Audible original for
him called and your Ass WillFollow, and we were nominated
for a Grammy.
We lost to President Carter,which okay.
If I lose anybody, we lose toPresident Carter.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
But it's George sitting and talking about things
that not the goofable thingsyou know, just stories that just
make you go, just show you howincredible he is.
He's going to be 84 this yearand in June he gets inducted
into the Songwriter Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Deserved.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
And next year makes the 50th landing of the
Mothership.
So we about to soup that girlup again, wow, wow, a deserved
I'm excited about that.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
Yeah, I'm glad that every time I see him on TV I'm
just glad to see him and heseems very lucid and looking
well and healthy and peoplebowing down to him as they
should, as they should.
As they should.
Yeah, this guy's been aroundforever and launched so many
careers.
Yep, tell me about Time Zone.

(51:19):
So again, I got hit by a bikeand then I ran into George
Clinton.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
My life has all been so divinely orchestrated it
really has and my husband, raychu, the amazing music director,
musician, producer that he is.
We knew each other for many,many years but it was always
very casual and there was asimple meeting in my office and

(51:44):
it was like literally I knowthis sounds really corny, but
like I saw, it was almost likeCupid's arrow for real Like.
I saw him in a way I had neverseen it before and it happened
so fast, like we had a meetingin December and we were engaged
in March and married thefollowing September.
So everything moved reallyquickly.
So, we had just gotten marriedand it was Ray who identified

(52:05):
that I had really burned out.
I just was not having fun goingto work anymore.
By this time.
I'm in my late thirties, excuseme, and for an A&R person you
should be in your twenties.
You should be out there hangingout.
And then there was this thingthat came out called West Coast
Hip Hop and at that time, whichI loved because it used so much

(52:25):
forgive me so much of the samemusicality as George you know
that whole G-funk and they useda lot of his samples and stuff.
But they talked about womenreally badly they did, and it
was just really difficult for meto justify going home to my
then teenage daughter.
Look what mommy did at work.
I've been called a bitch and ahoe, so I had to really make a

(52:45):
decision.
Ray saw that I wasn't loving itanymore and he just said just
don't do it anymore.
Now you know, those Sonycontracts were cute.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Back then they were.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
So how do I walk away from this?
Again, my new boss was myformer attorney, Ron Sweeney,
and Ron Sweeney came on to runBlack Music after Lamont Bowles
and I use that loosely but Ronbasically set me up and said
look, I can make it work where Ican let you go, which means

(53:21):
that you'll get the rest of yourcontract money, Because if you
leave I can't get you a dime.
And so that's how that wasorchestrated.
So I left with about a year anda half's worth of money and
said what is it that I love?
What do I love to do?
Well, I love music and I loveto travel, and I was on the

(53:41):
highway picking up a friend ofmine and there was a billboard
at the airport and it was forContinental Airways.
That's how long ago that was.
And the tagline said whatevertime zone you're in, we're there
with you, and the word timezone jumped out and I went I
wonder if I could sell musicoverseas.

(54:03):
That takes me back to Sapphire,because I know that there's a
market and I remember sitting inthose epic meetings saying why
don't we have an internationalrelease on Shabba?
And being told that Black musicdoesn't sell overseas, with his
manager and booking showsoverseas, and then making these

(54:23):
palm cards that said as raw asever in store now, knowing that
they were not in any storesoutside of America.
So, just like clockwork,somebody would go to the show,
they'd go to the shop next dayto get it nothing.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Tommy Mottola's phone is ringing on the hook.
Yeah, I'm in London.
I can't get this album.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
And we finally released an international
version.
So international has alwaysbeen on my radar and so I told
Ray I'm going to start my owncompany.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
I had a Rolodex, I had a wordprocessor.
There was no internet and I hada phone.
And I had a dream and I wasreading Billboard one day and

(55:02):
saw that there was this youngman by the name of Saul Guy who
had become director ofinternational at Arister and I
wrote him a note with mybusiness card in it and saying
that I really wanted to meetwith him and I did.
And he had just put togetherthe Bad Boy International Tour
and he knew who the players werearound the world to help break
Black music overseas, to helpbreak Black music overseas.

(55:23):
So we partnered together and Iput together my own street teams
outside the US, primarily inEurope.
We did Europe, we did SouthAfrica, we did Australia.
We didn't do much in SouthAmerica.
That's how Time Zone was bornand that was in 1998 and it
lasted until the pandemic when-.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
When everything fell apart, you know.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
but yeah, but that was.
I mean being an entrepreneur,which mean being an entrepreneur
which I call being anentrepreneur Negro ain't for the
faint of heart.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Not for the faint of heart.
And I went the first 13 monthswithout a paycheck and it was
that.
Now it was December of 2000.
And I said, if I can't cracksomething I'm going to have to
go back and get a job.
And my good friend KedarMassenburg gave me a shot and he
gave me his artist A+.
And again, that was a gift fromGod, because A-plus sold zero

(56:13):
records in America, but becausehe had a sample of Beethoven's
Fifth in the song.
It was a very pop record and hewas like would went overseas
with him, girls were runningafter him like he was in the
Beatles.
It was the most insane thing Ihad ever experienced and so that
was my first hit.

(56:33):
So now I got a story.
And then banging on recordcompanies saying, yes, just
release a little bit of money.
And then I really had to go toartist managers and say you're
going to have to break your owncareers, you're going to have to
invest in it on yourself untilthe record companies pick up.
And then the record companiesfinally saw there is a value,
because it's our culture that'sbeing sold.

(56:54):
It's about how we move, it's howwe dress, it's how we dance,
it's how we, everything that wasbeing bought outside of America
where Americans didn't reallysee that for a long time.
And I came in right at theright time.
I came at the height of NeoSoul, so my clients were Jill
Scott and Indie Irie and MusicSoul, child and Kim and like all
the artists that could tour, Alot of touring.

(57:17):
in addition to doing marketingand promoting, there were things
called.
You know we did licensing dealsthen, so I could take your US
record and resell it allthroughout the world and pick up
different pockets of money, andso you know it was a really,
really good time.
So time zone is always in myheart.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
And tell me about what's going on with you right
now.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Right now I am doing something that I said I would
never do, which is work with myhusband, but we started Show
Entertainment.
That's been about 20 years, andso I'm a show producer and we
do all the way up to CarnegieHall.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
You know you guys are doing well.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Yeah, we are, we're doing really well.
And then, of course, ray ismusic director for Dancing with
the Stars and the Macy'sThanksgiving Day Parade.
And through the course of allof this, we realized how blessed
we were you know, and too muchis given.
Much is expected, and we startedour foundation Power to Inspire
in 2013.
And it is to support youngpeople who aspire to be in the
music industry, either as amusic creator, singer,

(58:14):
songwriter, musician, produceror behind the scenes.
And Ray and I are sitting atour place in LA, a pandemic
comes, we're shut down.
I literally have nothing to do.
I could not bake one morebanana bread.
It was like I gotta dosomething.
Another netflix show what can Ido?

Speaker 1 (58:30):
yeah, in young people .

Speaker 2 (58:32):
And then george floyd was killed and that's what gave
me the idea.
So power to inspire is open toany young person who wants to be
in the music industry, ages 18to 26.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
But our summer internship mentorship program,
which was birthed in the middleof the pandemic, I made purely
for Black and Brown youth.
Okay, so this summer makes oursixth summer doing it.
It's a virtual program.
We keep it virtual because notonly do I get kids in major
cities, but I get kids fromTulsa, oklahoma.

Speaker 1 (59:00):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
I also get mentors from Berlin and Paris.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
And so yeah, tulsa, oklahoma, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Also mentors from Berlin and Paris, yeah so, and
we've got some really greatsuccess stories of these young
people, and we don't only pourinto them as far as what they
want as their careers, but alsojust as young people.
You know, 2020 was a scary timebeing black in America.
It's a scary time being blackin America now.
Being Black in America it's ascary time being Black in

(59:25):
America now, but it was reallyscary after George Floyd and
Breonna Taylor, and these youngkids were like my grandmother
just died of COVID and I can'tgo outside, and you know.
So we really gave them a safeplace and a term that Ray likes
to use a lot is called accessand opportunity.
So we've been able to employthem.
Our foundation coordinator andbranding person is one of our
2020 alumni.
She went to Berkeley.
And branding person is one ofour 2020 alumni.

(59:46):
She went to Berkeley.
We've got.
When we did our Night ofInspiration show at Carnegie
Hall this last time, we featureda segment about power to
inspire musicians and singers,but we also had behind the
scenes them working with us.
We have a studio in Englewood,new Jersey, called RVMK, which
is we keep open 24 seven to anyof our young people that want to
come in and learn to use it.
The thing I'm really excitedabout.

(01:00:07):
We have a couple of new thingswe're going to do this year, but
the thing I'm excited about issomething called power to
inspire to go, and what that isis during the pandemic, ray
couldn't work because he does TVand it was all shut down and he
had to figure out how could heget back in the ballroom dancing
with the stars.
So he bought a trailer brand newRV trailer, gutted it out, took

(01:00:30):
the kitchen out, took thebathroom out, made it into a
full production trailer, twoseparate entrances.
So it was COVID safe and that'swhere he drove up to CBS
studios, they plugged him in andthat's where he did his shows.
But that trailer, which hestill does it from there, that
trailer is dormant for ninemonths of the year.
So I am going to be using thattrailer it's in L and we are

(01:00:53):
working right now on funding andany ideas that anybody can give
me to help me with this andwe're going to pull up in
unserved communities in LA andtell these kids come book time
with us communities in LA andtell these kids come book time
with us.
We're going to teach you how torecord it right.
You're going to walk away withthese slides.
It's going to be on Spotify bythe time you get home, and so
that's a power to inspire to gowith.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
That's a great idea.
And kids they're going to gocrazy over that.
I think so Crazy, like some kidin East LA or Compton or
wherever we don't have thataccess.
They're going to go crazy overthat.
That's a great idea.
That's a great idea and we'renot going to charge them.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
you know Again, you know we've been I mean you hear
me talking about from the verybeginning of my career and I'm
still here and I'm still excitedand I get up every day excited
about what I'm going to do,because it's all about the music
for me.
And so to watch these youngpeople.
You know they call me Aunt Vivor Miss Viv, or you know they
can't call me Vivian, I'm notyour friend.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
No, exactly, I ain't one of your little friends.
Respect, do Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
But when I look on Instagram and I see that they're
releasing their stuff orthey're doing a show or that,
you know it just really.
You know, yeah, I'm proud.

Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
Yes, I feel weird to say this, but I'm proud of you.
Thank, but I'm proud of you,thank you and everything that
you're doing.
This was a great interview.
Yeah, we had fun.
I learned a lot.
Actually, I learned a lot, eventhough I say I know you, I
learned a lot and I'm surethere's more I could learn.
I learned a lot.
People are going to love this.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Thank you, darling.
I appreciate you.
Thank you for giving me a voice.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
Of course.
So what I do is I have I'mgoing to do this do these
separately, because I'm going tokind of pose like a little, a
short thing as long as well asyour interview.
It's going to be a short thingwhere I ask these questions as I
nominate our person.
So are you ready?

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
I hope so.
Do I have to answer it or do Ihave to repeat it?

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
So no, no, no, no, you don't have to repeat.
So give me an artist that youwanted to sign, but you couldn't
.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
D'Angelo.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
Give me the story behind that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
The person over me.
We got outbid, we got outbid,but D'Angelo went exactly where
D'Angelo needed to go, becausehis A&R guy was Gary Harris.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
And you could not have found a better music man.
No way, harris.
So yeah, but but d'angelo.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
Okay, that's, that's a good one.
Give me three of your favoriteartists, and why of any genre,
doesn't matter.
You know, old nude doesn'tmatter george clinton number one
.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
George clinton number one because he makes me feel,
absolutely.
He's been making me feel fordecades okay it's a genre, it's
not an.
I'm a big yacht rock girl Likepeople don't know, did you watch
a documentary?
Yes, I did so.
I'm a.
I'm a.
Doobie Brothers, steely Dan.
Kenny Loggins I cried at theKenny Loggins this is it Last

(01:03:38):
concert Like don't go.
I have to say it definitely isa genre.
Okay, I have to say itdefinitely is a genre.
Okay.
Louis Vega Louis Vega is one ofthe most incredibly talented
people.
I think people really make himsmall just as a DJ, but he is
the most amazing producer andnow live artist.

(01:03:59):
So for two summers in a row, Iwent and hung out with him and
his wife and Ibiza, just todance.
Wow.
So yeah, those would row.
I went and hung out with himand his wife in.
Ibiza just to dance, Wow, Summer.
So yeah, those would be.
One has to be a genre because Ilive in.
Yahuas.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
I wasn't expecting Louis, but he definitely
deserves.
I just wasn't expecting him.
Okay, give me three of yourfavorite producers.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Well, I got to go back to Louis.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Yeah, I guess two, because Louis is one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
You don't get better than jam and lewis.
I mean their body of work, fromyolanda adams to janet jackson,
just and all of the pop acts.
I mean they were also one ofthe first black producers that
were producing pop acts andhaving hits and consummate
gentlemen.
I met them when I was atCAP andI was signing up everybody in

(01:04:45):
Minneapolis and I mean they werethen exactly the same people
that they are today.
So I just think that they'reamazing Producers.
Wow.
I don't want to take the easyroute and say Ellie and Babyface
, that's very obvious.
I'll say Teddy Riley, I reallywill.
I would say Teddy Riley because, again, these are all people
that had a sound, you know, andnot only with Teddy.

(01:05:07):
With Teddy came not only themusic, but then you know the
little haircuts and the clothesand the dance All of that.
So it became.
You know, he really ushered usas a culture into something else
.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
He did.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Oh, and Timberland, I'm sorry.
Ok, ok, absolutely OK,absolutely Timberland OK.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
OK, and last question , I'll say three, but if you
can't think of three, it's fine.
Give me three of your favoriteconcerts over the years that
you've seen shows.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Sly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Stone getting married at Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
If you watch that?
I was there.
I was wild at 14.
14 was a year.
Yeah, I mean we had no ideathat Sly was getting married and
I was like third row seats onthe end and you see these women
come out in these gold lamédresses with these, and it was
just, and I'm sure I wastripping on some kind of illicit

(01:06:01):
drug at that point of my life.
So I mean, it was just that,that definitely Concerts there's
.
So I've seen, I've seen ChakaKhan open for Marvin Gaye.
I saw Prince did 21 shows atthe O2 Arena in London and I
went to the 21st show and he hadan after party at the little

(01:06:21):
club that's attached to itcalled the Indigo, and he had an
opening act and the curtainsopened and it was just this
little white girl with thisblack hair that was all up on
top of her head.
And after she finished singing,Prince came on and said ladies
and gentlemen, Amy Winehouse.
Wow, I remember that.
Wow, I remember that.
So those are some of my that'sthree good ones, that's three

(01:06:45):
really good ones.

Speaker 1 (01:06:46):
That's three really good ones.
That's three good ones.
Okay, that's it we done Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Thank you.
Earth Wind Fire, come on now.
There's never an Earth WindFire show that comes in town.
I travel to go see Earth WindFire.
They make me happy.
It's bad to be in the 70s, it'sthe 70s moment for me.
Thank you for letting me godown memory lane.
You made me think of thingsthat I didn't remember.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
Thank you very much, Vivian Scott Chu Thank you sir.
For gracing us with yourpresence.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Thank you, and you know what Thank you for Mixed
and Mastered.
There are people like myselfwho are always behind the scenes
.
I was never that real out frontindustry person.
I mean, I know my assignment, Iknow my ministry and it's that
of being supportive of peoplewho are in the arts.
And it's no coincidence thatI'm married to somebody like
that and we don't often get totell our stories, and

(01:07:38):
particularly women.
So I really do appreciate this,thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Thank you, and I'll be calling you to help me get
some more people on here, somepeople that love me too.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Louise is next.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Yeah, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it.
You can catch Mixed andMastered on Apple Podcasts,
spotify, iheart or wherever youget your podcasts.
Hit that follow button, leave areview and tell a friend I'm
your host, jeffrey Sledge.
Mixed and Mastered is producedand distributed by Merrick
Studios.