A rhythm and blues renaissance is under way in Atlanta as platinum- rated black artists choose to exchange the violent crime and high cost of Los Angeles and New York for a quieter life in this tree-shaded metropolis.
These are the musicmakers who will turn Atlanta into what Arista president Clive Davis has termed the "Motown of the '90s":
- Singer Bobby Brown - a multiple nominee for the Jan. 22 American Music Awards whose "Don't Be Cruel" LP has reached quintuple-platinum status - bought a north Atlanta house this summer and is establishing rehearsal and recording facilities here.
- Superproducers Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds - responsible for No. 1 R&B hits by Mr. Brown, Karyn White, Pebbles, the Boys and Sheena Easton - moved their families here, along with their new label, an Arista affiliate called LaFace Records.
- Teddy Riley, leader of Guy and producer of Top 10 hits for Mr. Brown, Keith Sweat and Johnny Kemp, is shopping for an Atlanta house - and considering relocating his production company here.
- Other recent arrivals include the vocal group After 7, producer Dean "Sir" Gant and Matt "Atlanta" Bliss (Prince's trumpeter) joining longtime resident Peabo Bryson.
"Atlanta was, maybe, the best-kept secret in the country, " says Tom Wright, owner of the locally prominent recording facility, Cheshire Sound Studios. "The secret's out."
Janine McAdams, editor of black music at Billboard magazine in New York, says Atlanta is "going to be the way Memphis was in the '60s and '70s: a place where good studios and good producers drew people to record and relax and be creative."
When it comes to the big leagues, though, Atlanta is still a pipsqueak. New York and Los Angeles studios account for about 90 percent of U.S. recording; much of the rest occurs in cities such as Nashville, Detroit, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Austin, Texas. Atlanta is behind all of these.
But the arrival of Messrs. Reid and Edmonds is the starting gun for an era of rapid change. Industry spokesmen say the influx of new talent - and Atlanta's affordable real estate - will draw additional musicians and producers.
"Even the Prince people are watching what we're doing down here, " said Bob Patton, a former booking manager for James Brown and an Atlanta music industry insider.
"If you compare how many records are made here to other markets, it is a drop in the bucket, " says Atlanta attorney-manager David Franklin, whose clients have included Miles Davis and Roberta Flack.
"What is different from before is that producers, writers, arrangers and musicians are moving here, and the artists will go wherever they are, " Mr. Franklin says. "Look at Muscle Shoals [Ala.] in the late '60s. What was Muscle Shoals but a truckstop? But look how many world-known artists, from the Rolling Stones to Aretha Franklin, came to Muscle Shoals."
One advantage Atlanta has over Muscle Shoals: It's no truckstop. A booming economy, a thriving black middle class, strong black political leadership and congenial relations between the races make this town a desirable location for black artists weary of the N.Y./L.A. rat race.
"Everybody who comes here falls in love with the city, " says Bunny Jackson Ransom, a publicist who also manages S.O.S., locally based Tabu label recording artists.
Balancing the hot new acts is Atlanta's wealth of established black musicians, including Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight, Jean Carne, Millie Jackson, William Bell, Clarence Carter and several alumni of the James Brown band (Bobby Byrd, Vicki Anderson, St. Clair Pinckney and Danny Ray).
"It's a nice place to raise children, a good place to live, " says Mr. Mayfield, whose soaring falsetto floated above the Impressions and who will return to the limelight shortly with his soundtrack to "Superfly II, " expected out early this year.
"I've got to think that [Atlanta's music boom] has got to be good for me, " says Mr. Mayfield, an Atlanta resident for 12 years. "I welcome them all [the new arrivals] with open arms."
Atlanta attorney Joel Katz, who represents Jermaine Jackson, the members of S.O.S., Cameo and country stars such as George Jones and George Strait, compares Atlanta favorably to Minneapolis. The Minnesota city became an R&B exporter on the strength of Prince's Paisley Park studio and the creations of singer Morris Day and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. "It will happen bigger here, " Mr. Katz insists, "because there's more of a concentration of talent, and they're on different labels rather than one."
Typical of the new arrivals is Dean "Sir" Gant, the man behind Platinum Plus Productions and the producer of Anita Baker's multimillion- selling "Rapture" LP; he's also worked with Madonna, George Howard and Mr. Bryson. Mr. Gant visited Atlanta in 1987 to produce Mr. Bryson's "Positive" album and breakfasted with then-resident Larry Blackmon, Cameo leader and creator of the Atlanta Artists label. Mr. Gant remarked on Mr. Blackmon's attractive Roswell home, and, he says, "When he told me what he paid, I was in shock. I said, 'You got this for that amount?' "
In summer 1988, Mr. Gant settled in a Sandy Springs house with his wife and three children, but he will move to Alpharetta next spring. "Even in the last five years, L.A. has changed so much for the worse, with gangs and drugs, " says Mr. Gant. "It was not a place where I wanted to raise my kids."
Mr. Reid feels the same way. He has produced hits for his wife, vocalist Pebbles, including "Girlfriend, " a No. 1 R&B hit in 1988. On Nov. 10, they delivered another project, 7-pound, 7-ounce Aaron Alexander Reid, born in Atlanta. "We're especially glad we chose Atlanta, " he said recently.
Mr. Edmonds, who is also married, concurred. "We had moved out to L.A. and that didn't work, and we couldn't go back home, and we wanted someplace that would be in between. We thought this would be a place where we could raise a family and live a normal life."
With $10 million in seed money from Arista, which will distribute their records, Messrs. Reid and Edmonds have opened a Norcross office for their new Arista affiliate, LaFace Records, and are scouting sites for a recording-rehearsal facility.
The producing team has encouraged other family members to come to town, such as the vocal group After 7, which includes two of Mr. Edmonds's brothers - Melvin and Kevon - and Mr. Reid's cousin, Keith Mitchell.
"One of the good things about Atlanta is you don't have to get caught up in the hype, " said Melvin Edmonds, who appreciates this city's non-show biz atmosphere. "You can get lost in L.A.; you can get caught up in the glitter and the glamour really easy."
Projects on the back burners for the Reid-Edmonds team: The pair will work on Whitney Houston's third album (her first two have sold about 20 million copies) and will produce for Mr. Brown.
Until the newcomer producers build their own studios, however, many will be leaving town to finish their projects. Mr. Gant will finish up work on a Melba Moore single in Los Angeles, because he hasn't found the background vocalists and studio facilities here.
Mr. Blackmon of Cameo moved to the Big Peach in 1980, but he says he soured on the lack of cooperation from Atlanta studio owners, and he recorded his biggest seller, "Word Up, " in New York City. Though he still maintains a residence here, he's moved his label headquarters and recording activities to Miami.
"The reason that Bobby [Brown] and those guys moved [to Atlanta] wasn't because of Cheshire Sound Studios, " Mr. Blackmon says. "In terms of the industry in Atlanta, they didn't have one until these guys moved there."
Most of the musical transplants buy houses in north Atlanta, settling in Roswell, Sandy Springs, Marietta, Norcross and Alpharetta, even though the predominantly black communities in south Atlanta could use the economic boost brought by the new arrivals.
"It's an excellent point, and we have to raise it, " says Mr. Bryson. "There is an obligation to put some of that back. These are people who make their living directly from black folk, and most black folk live in the Southwest."
Mr. Gant said he and other newcomers were caught off guard by the cultural divisions in Atlanta. "We were not aware of how heavy that North- South thing is, " he says. He adds that he and others have no intention of sealing themselves off from south Atlanta.
"The saying goes, 'If you don't have any black friends, you're not going to have any white friends, ' " he adds. "I know this sounds like a cliche, but what is going to make it happen is everyone working together."
Ultimately, the boom in Atlanta's music industry can't help but improve the economy of the entire metropolitan area. "It was inevitable that the music business would end up here, " Mr. Reid says. "It's real virgin territory that really hasn't been broken in a major way."
Of making hit records and putting Atlanta on the map, Mr. Reid says, "It's a tough job, but someone has to do it."
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