Jacqueline Avant, the 81-year-old wife of veteran music executive Clarence Avant, was shot and killed in a home invasion robbery at the couple’s Beverly Hills-area house last night.
According to reports, confirmed by Deadline, Jacqueline Avant was killed when multiple shots were fired during an attempted robbery at the Avant home in the Trousdale Estates near Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills police received a call about a shooting around 2:30 a.m.; Jacqueline Avant had already been taken to a hospital when police arrived at the home.
Jacqueline and Clarence Avant are the parents of Nicole Avant, who is married to Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
Beverly Hills police confirmed a shooting death in the neighborhorhood, but have not yet confirmed the name of the victim. Netflix confirmed that the victim was Jacqueline Avant.
Clarence Avant, who received the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Ahmet Ertegun Award in May, was the subject of a 2019 Netflix documentary titled The Black Godfather. The film, produced by Nicole Avant, chronicled Avant’s huge influence on the recording industry, including his 1969 founding of Sussex Records and the signing of Bill Withers, a former airplane mechanic with dreams of becoming a singer-songwriter who went on to write such 1970s classics as “Lean on Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.”
Withers, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama spoke about Avant in a video presented at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2021 ceremony.
The Black Godfather film recounts how Avant went up against Dick Clark after the American Bandstand producer tried to launch a Black music-oriented show to rival Soul Train. Avant managed to convince ABC not to back Clark’s venture, allowing for the continued success off Soul Train which—unlike Clark’s project—was an authentically Black-owned and Black-run show.
The Black Godfather included appearances from Presidents Clinton and Obama, who praised Avant’s political acumen and his role in getting them to the White House.
Jacqueline and Clarence Avant have been married since 1967, and have two children: Nicole Avant, the film producer and former United States Ambassador to the Bahamas, and Alexander Du Bois Avant.
Jacqueline Avant previously served as president of the Neighbors of Watts, the support group for the South Central Community Child Care Center, and is on the board of directors of the International Student Center at UCLA.
MORE TO COME…
