I've been reading the profanity laced book
"Sing To Me" by Antonio "L.A." Reid, who is a former drummer
and member of the 1980s R&B group, The Deele. It is not a
good tome. It makes him look bad, as he has betrayed the
confidence of people who are instrumental in his success in
the music industry. In the 1980s Reid branched off and
partnered with fellow Deele band member,
keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds to
form the production duo L.A. and Babyface. In the mid 1980s,
when they were just getting started a production team, a
music executive referred them to a then up and coming
singer, Pebbles, who was about to make her debut.
Reid had pitch a catchy, funky R&B/pop song
entitled "Girlfriend" to Vanessa Williams, who was also
about to make her music debut after the terrible Miss
America scandal had destroyed her life at the hands of an
unscrupulous, money hungry photographer, who sold private,
compromising nude photos taken of her years prior in
university. Williams verbally agreed to record the song.
L.A. and Babyface met Pebbles after Williams had been
offered the song.
When they met Pebbles, Babyface developed a
crush on her (and it showed when they sang together that he
was smitten with her) thought the song "Girlfriend" was more
suited to her than Williams. Pebbles gave them $18,000 for
the song and two of her cars (a Mercedes and a Jaguar) in
exchange for the tune. The song became a smash. Williams was
understandably upset, but she too later went on to great
chart success on her sophomore album with the smash "Save
The Best For Last."
Pebbles, L.A. & Babyface became fast
friends. Pebbles took them out to champagne dinners and
showed them a luxury lifestyle they were not used to as
struggling musicians. When she married Reid not long after
and they moved to Atlanta to start the LaFace records label,
with a deal from Clive Davis' Arista, Pebbles was an
instrumental part of the companies success, but for years
L.A. took and got all the credit. Pebbles put together,
named, styled and placed TLC with producers, songwriters and
video directors, which culminated into a big debut.
Pebbles discovered the singer/songwriter,
Tony Rich, who had a massive hit with the song "Nobody Knows
It But Me." Pebbles styled Toni Braxton and helped to edit
her music videos. Pebbles discovered the group/production
team Organized Noize, who went on to produce many urban
hits. Pebbles helped him when he had nothing. He even admits
it in the book. However he kept taking credit for what she
and others did.
TLC, L.A. Reid and Pebbles in the 1990s
Another example of this is in one chapter he
takes credit for TLC, when it was Pebbles' project from
start to finish (but claims she took over TLC from him,
which is a lie). In the book Reid takes credit for placing
the song "Unbreak My Heart" with LaFace recording artist,
Toni Braxton, but since the 1990s, Clive Davis was credited
with finding the song and sending it to LaFace for her,
stating her album lacked a big hit.
In a 1990s interview on the BET television
show "Video Soul" Babyface indicated Reid had ripped him
off. Babyface stated he wished he had paid as much attention
to the business side of their partnership, as Reid had done.
Reid stated in the book Babyface asked for an audit, but was
unable to turn up any evidence. However, Babyface did most
of the songwriting work, but because they were a production
duo, Reid's name went on every song as well. Reid did write
a few hits, but Babyface did the bulk of the work in the
studio.
Reid later admitted in an interview that he
was privileged to have his name on Babyface songs. It's
pretty telling that when Babyface terminated the music
production partnership, he went on to write many songs and
Reid never wrote another tune. When you're a true
songwriter, you don't stop writing because you broke up with
your production partner.
Reid takes full credit for the success of
LaFace Records when others were instrumental in the
company's success. Ironically, when things went bad with
LaFace in the early 1990s, beginning with TLC, all the blame
was placed on Pebbles, despite the fact they were not
getting properly paid by parent company Arista Records and
Reid claims in the book she took over the project from him.
TLC were never signed to LaFace directly, as they were
Pebbles' group she put together.
Reid allowed, Pebbles, the mother of his
child, the woman that helped him when he was broke, to be
the scapegoat for what happened, in a terrible situation
that completely devastated her. He threw his wife under the
bus, letting her be the scapegoat, over not wanting to
damage his position in the music industry. He sacrificed
her. He put his career ahead of his family and that's not
cool (a family he admits he walked out on, children
included, in the middle of the night without telling them).
For two decades he let people slander and
slam Pebbles on television, in print and online and never
said a word. That woman was devastated and he looked the
other way. I never respected that. He finally spoke up for
her last year stating she is not a thief and did not rob
TLC. The group found it out as well, as after they pushed
Pebbles out of the picture, they were still broke for years
and decided to hold Arista CEO Clive Davis at gunpoint.
Clive Davis and L.A. Reid
I admit, TLC being paid $33,000 per year for
three years, while Arista made over $100,000,000 off the
group is greedy and crazy on the parent company's part.
Arista should have compensated TLC more from the beginning
of their success when they saw the group was turning a
profit. They weren't losing money on TLC. Arista was not
fair in this regard.
Reid was also cheating on Pebbles during
their marriage. He even admitted writing the 1989 hit song
"In The Heat Of The Moment" about seducing his secretary in
his office bathroom. The song was a R&B hit for the band
After 7. This occurred while he was married to Pebbles, as
that was the first time in his life he could afford a
secretary and the song was written and released shortly
after his marriage to Pebbles. As stated in the column
previously, years ago, a cousin of Reid's in Atlanta, who is
now a preacher, told me he was cheating on Pebbles with
different women. Prior to meeting Pebbles, Reid was going
after several women as well. He is a promiscuous man.
Marriage seldom changes such a man.
Reid and TLC member Rhozanda "Chili" Thomas
played down what went on between the two of them, but they
were intimate. That's how Chili got in TLC, with Reid
kicking up a fuss over the original third member, Crystal,
in order to boot her in favor of his mistress. Reid claims
he doesn't know where the story started, but years ago a
website wrote about an Atlanta radio station broadcasting
the story of Chili and Pebbles being at odds arguing over
L.A. Reid's cheating.
In his book, Reid also indicates Chili "kept
making eye contact" with him at an audition where she was a
backup dancer. Chili's inappropriate behavior with L.A. is
apart of the reason the love of her life, TLC producer
Dallas Austin, did not show her the full attention he
craved. In the TLC biopic, Reid is shown flirting with Chili
and it upsetting his then wife Pebbles. L.A. and Chili are
playing the public for fools regarding what transpired.
There is a chapter in the book that puts out
the private business of the late, legendary singer, Whitney
Houston. Reid wrote of an incident in his book regarding
Houston showing up at his and Pebbles' Atlanta home and
later began watching a movie with him at night while Pebbles
was away on tour:
"Whitney came back
to Atlanta one week later and she knocked out these two
songs like they were nothing—pow, pow—only now we were used
to it. She came back a third time to do some fixes. Aaron
had been born and Pebbles was out touring behind her new
“album. Whitney called from her hotel to tell me her room
had been broken into and she felt uncomfortable at the
hotel. Could she use the guesthouse? She showed up with her
manager and running partner Robyn Crawford. It was late. I
put on a movie in the theater to watch and the phone rang.
It was Pebbles, who quickly became upset when she learned
Whitney was there.
“Whitney’s in my
house?” she said. “We’re not having that. My husband is not
going to sit in my house late at night watching a movie with
another girl.” I tried to explain, but she threw a tantrum
and I started to get angry. I told her she had nothing to
worry about, this was completely safe, platonic, and just us
musicians. I got loud and Whitney overheard.
“She’s trippin’,
huh?” she said.
Whitney offered to
leave, but I told her my responsibility was to take care of
her and everything would be fine. “I don’t want to be in the
middle of y’all’s mess,” she said.
Pebbles kept
calling back and finally I took the phone off the hook. I
was embarrassed. I pride myself on being a professional. I
was starting a business, and was now working with—and
entertaining—major celebrity superstars. I didn’t need this
bullshit. Whitney went to the guesthouse to sleep.
The next day,
Pebbles came home and had attitude with me. She tried having
attitude with Whitney, too, but Whitney put out that fire
in, like, two seconds. I don’t know what she said, but
everything quickly was cool. Whitney invited us all—me,
Pebbles, Babyface and his new girlfriend, Tracey (he and his
wife had divorced)—to her place, so we all piled on a Delta
jet and spent the weekend in New Jersey.'" - L.A. Reid's
"Sing To Me"
What was the necessity of including that
story in the book. Houston is gone and can't defend herself.
Pebbles is no longer your wife. She and Pebbles ended up
becoming great friends to the day Houston died. They were
even bridesmaids at each others weddings (when Houston wed
Bobby Brown and Pebbles later remarried, tying the knot with
baseball player, Otis Nixon). Reid betrayed their confidence
in putting the story in the book for sensationalism
purposes, in order to sell more copies. I find it hard to
believe either woman would want that story out there. It was
personal.
It is understandable that a woman would not
feel comfortable with the idea of another woman, especially
one she does not know well (yet), watching a movie alone
with her husband at night in her house, while she is away.
Most women would not be happy about that. However, Pebbles
didn't know Houston was actually in Atlanta to work and see
Bobby Brown, who she had begun dating. Brown became the love
of Houston's life. Pebbles misunderstood (and considering
L.A. Reid had been dating singer Paula Abdul and others at
the same time he was seeing her before they got married, it
is easy to see why she was concerned, as you can't trust a
man behaving like that).
Reid also wrote of how in a jealous rage,
Pebbles, whom he was dating at the time, smashed up all the
glass furniture in his apartment using a broom, as he had
Paula Abdul in his place at night on a date. In the 1980s,
Abdul was known as an industry mattress. She was the
mistress of married Jackson 5 member, Jackie Jackson. Abdul
also had a relationship with Arsenio Hall that was lampooned
on television.
Reid also brought up how he took over Arista
Records, pushing Clive Davis out of his job, when the latter
merged with BMG. I am not fan of Davis or Sony (Davis'
Arista was bought by Sony) , due to their chronic acts of
copyright infringement in ripping off legendary and lesser
known songwriters, producers and artists, but Reid was a
Judas to take Davis' job, when the latter was forced out.
When so many in the industry had rejected
funding LaFace Records in the late 1980s, such as David
Geffen, Davis was the one who gave them funding. It was a
betrayal to stab him in the back and take his job. Much like
he betrayed his wife Pebbles...and partner Babyface. In the
book, Reid also arrogantly slammed the group the Deele, whom
he got his start with, as lazy, for putting their family
ahead of the group (in wanting to go to a family party
instead of doing more retakes in the recording studio). Reid
slammed Janet Jackson in the book. He also took aim at music
mogul David Geffen.
Reid has exhibited a pattern of betraying
and bad mouthing people who have greatly helped him in life
and that's not a good thing (Babyface, Pebbles, Clive Davis,
The Deele). I implore my readers not to take that path. Do
business the right way. Don't betray or step on people
because you can, as it will come back to you in life.
Engaging in ruthlessness and betrayals may seem like it is
working at first, but make no mistake, everything people do
in life, whether good or bad, comes back to them. You reap
what you sow.
TLC's television movie "CrazySexyCool"
Side Bar: some of you are probably
wondering why I dislike L.A. Reid. I disapprove of his
treatment of others, as mentioned above. Additionally, in
the infringements of my
preexisting copyrights that occurred, a lawyer
discovered that my preexisting copyrighted catalog, that
industry criminals gained an illegally made copy of through
Madonna and her hacker,
has been passed around A&R departments at record labels. A
second source discovered Reid is one of the people who is in
illegal possession of unlawful copies made of my preexisting
copyrighted catalog and illegally used items on artists at
labels he has been working with, in criminal violation of
the law.
As written in the column previously, my
copyrighted catalog contains outlines for biopics I want to
make ("Alleged
Crime Scene Knife Conveniently Found While The People v. OJ
Simpson Movie Airs On Television" and "Newly Unearthed Knife In The OJ Simpson Case Is A Fraud With No
DNA (Confirming Previous Site Claims)").
Thus far, Madonna, who had my catalog hacked and illegally
copied, has gotten those biopics made (and psychotically had
her name included in some of the finished biopics that aired
on TV, in people's life stories that had nothing to do with
her). One of the biopics I wanted to write and direct is
TLC's story (the one that aired on VH-1 is not written or
directed in the manner I would have done it, as it is
slanderous, defamatory and contains lies).
Firstly, TLC is free to do their life story,
as is anyone else, provided an unauthorized production does
not use the subject's copyrighted music, logos or any other
intellectual property without permission. However, VH-1's
TLC biopic had a new song called "Meant To Be" which is an
infringement of a PREEXISTING song of the same name in my
Library of Congress registered copyrighted catalog.
Secondly, my name is in VH-1's TLC movie as
a character, when I don't know them. I saw T-Boz in a Miami
mall once and she and her then boyfriend were looking me in
the face, which I had wondered about at the time, but
ignored it. However, that does not constitute knowing
someone.
Thirdly, Rhozanda "Chilli" Thomas
blocked me on Twitter.com, when she's not supposed
to even know who I am, I never followed her on the site and
I never tweeted anything at her. People block others on
Twitter who tweet threats or harassing statements at them. I
never did that, not tweeting at her at all. Chilli went out
of her way to find my Twitter name and block me, when I
don't know her, never met her, never contacted her and did
not tweet anything at her and had no intention of doing so.
The whole thing is just weird and it's due to all that
stealing that went on in the background on their end.
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