Lou Taylor Stands on the Shoulders of Giants
Three is a crowd: Lou Taylor, John Davimos & Irving Azoff
This is Part 3 in the Chronicle of Lou Taylor. Lou was Britney Spears’ business manager throughout the conservatorship. Here you can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 & Part 7.
In the vast and often opaque world of the music industry, let's strip away everything you know about Lou Taylor. Forget her infamous moniker as the Architect of Britney Spears’ conservatorship. But what do architects really do? They design and construct buildings, certainly, but did they invent "buildings"? There's the rub. Following the explosive 2021 release of Framing Britney Spears, one question persistently nagged at the edges of public consciousness: "Where did Lou Taylor get the idea for a conservatorship from?"
This narrative isn't just about unraveling the complex relationships within the music industry; it's a deep dive into the mechanics of power, control, and the exploitation of talent where the rules of the game are written by those who play it the hardest. As we peel back the layers of Lou Taylor's career and her connections that span the highest echelons of music and media, we uncover a saga filled with ambition, strategic maneuvering, and the sometimes murky waters of ethical boundaries. Join us as we explore the intricate dance of mentorship, loyalty, and the harsh realities of business in the spotlight's harsh glare.
Entertainment Is Tainted
The purpose of this essay is to describe the power brokers that were in Lou Taylor’s network since the beginning of her career in 1990. I assert that Lou Taylor likely knew about the mechanics of Brian Wilson’s conservatorship long before Britney Spears was forced into one in 2008.
As a former scholar of sexual violence, I know that given the nature of most assaults, there is little physical evidence. Sexual assault is difficult to prove because it comes down to people’s first-hand accounts. To investigate claims, you look for patterns. Most rapists aren’t just jumping out of bushes.
Crimes in the entertainment industry should not be considered analogous to what “po’folks” experience. There is an entire infrastructure built up to protect power players, with their own enforcement agencies trafficking in favors, punishments (e.g., blacklists, smear campaigns), and the ability to kill investigations conducted by the government or otherwise.
This is why some criminals are so prolific; they can pull every string on the harp. Thus, social network analysis is an appropriate research method to understand how a conservatorship could happen to Britney. In my research into the entertainment industry, I have often found that it isn’t where you work; it is who you work with.
Where Did The Idea Come From?
The Patronship of Young Athletes
As I detailed in Part 2 of this series, Lou Taylor was introduced to the sports and entertainment industry through the ultra-wealthy Davimos family. Lou Taylor appears to have been mentored by John Davimos, whose father, Dick Davimos, owned multiple businesses, including talent and business management services for celebrities and athletes. Dick took guardianship of Kelly Horford in 1986, a minor, to attempt to usher him into an NBA career like his brother.1
It is surprisingly common for high-resource individuals to extract children and young athletes from impoverished communities and act as their patrons. This occurs in particular (often private) high schools across the country, including generous fringe benefits to their parents/guardians.2 Even while young non-professional athletes now have more ability to profit from their labor, it has opened up new avenues for exploitation.34
A Note on Power Dynamics and Superstructure
I will explain the relationships that connect Lou Taylor to Brian Wilson, who is likely one of the most famous musicians that was forced into a conservatorship in his early 50s. However, my point is not to prove Lou’s specific connection to Brian Wilson. Instead, I am to demonstrate patterns that provide context and perhaps offer a different perspective on Britney’s conservatorship.
The sports and entertainment industry has always been set up to extract as much profit as possible from extraordinarily talented individuals by any means necessary. While Britney’s situation is extreme in nature, she is not alone. The public likes to mock celebrities for ending up in personal bankruptcy, assuming “poor people can’t handle their money”. However, classism frequently masks white-collar crimes. Britney’s conservatorship couldn’t have happened without the involvement of power players in the music industry, government officials and a heavily censored media.
Lou’s Beginnings with the Davimos Dynasty
In 1990, her husband relocated to South Florida for work and she needed a job, so she answered an ad. She didn’t even know what a business manager was — she’d been an accountant at mega firm Arthur Andersen — when she joined a management firm called Davimos, where she worked with Uptown Records and met Sean “Diddy” Combs. “I was too dumb to know that women weren’t business managers,” she says.
When Lou Taylor started with the Davimos family, it was an entry-level position more focused on sports, similar to Tri Star when it was founded in 1993. However, Lou Taylor often plays up her start at Uptown Records and in the music industry.
When Lou Taylor connected with John Davimos, he was already working with high-profile clients. For example, Bobby Brown was a John Davimos client in 1989 and “My Prerogative” went number one that same year.5
By the time the new millennium arrived, John Davimos seems to have moved on from the sports and entertainment world.67 The boxer Michael Moorer was managed by John Davimos when Lou Taylor became his business manager. Previously, Davimos Advisors had been Moorer’s business manager. During this period, Michael Moorer first earned the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World in 1994. Moorer was Lou’s first superstar client, and she was able to bring him over as a client when she first started Tri Star.
On Facebook John Davimos has described some of his memories of working with Moorer and his boxing coach Emanuel Steward.
What’s The 411 On Lou Taylor?
Mary J. Blige has known Lou Taylor for decades, but it is unclear at what exact point Lou Taylor became her business manager.
On her 2017 album Strength of a Woman, she thanks key players involved in monetizing Britney’s conservatorship: Larry Rudolph, Adam Leber and Lou Taylor.8
In 2022, Mary J. Blige was heavily criticized by the Britney community for thanking Tri Star when she earned a lifetime achievement at the Billboard Music Awards.9
I always caution people to reserve judgment in blaming artists for corruption in the music industry. Why don't we ever say: don't let a few good apples ripen the bunch? Very few people arrive at this level of superstardom, and they have few options due to corporate consolidation and corruption. Many people are desperate to be famous, so it is naive to think those wannabes wouldn’t play ball too.
Despite whatever longstanding financial relationship Mary has with Lou Taylor, it didn’t protect her from repeated financial troubles.10
Mary J. Blige has said that she "owed hundreds of millions of dollars" in unpaid taxes at the height of her financial problems.
"I owed so much money I never thought I'd ever get out of debt," the R&B legend said during a panel at her second annual Strength of a Woman festival this past weekend in Atlanta.
In 2013, it was reported that the singer owed $3.4 million in unpaid taxes over the span of three years, while she was also sued for defaulting on two bank loans in 2012 and 2013 amounting to a total of $2.7 million.
According to Bossip, in 2019, the Internal Revenue Service then filed a tax lien against Blige, claiming she owed the federal government $1,198,161 in back taxes [for 2016 and 2017].
- Insider
Many high-net-worth individuals end up in financial turmoil more than once. Clearly, Lou Taylor was involved with Mary J. Blige by the time the IRS filed a tax lien against her in 2019.11 Even the way Mary recently described how her finances are managed feels concerning.
How can an artist owe 100s in millions in taxes? Does she still owe back taxes? Artists make many deals with various corporations, and many people are part of their team - there seem to be a lot of opportunities for them to get shafted.
Remember, Courtney Love has said that clients are trapped at Tri Star.12 Yet, we won’t know for sure who is complicit until a lot of insiders start talking a lot of shit.
Let's rewind to the dawning of Mary J. Blige’s career…
Uptown Records & MCA
Andre Harrell was a seminal figure in hip-hop, first starting as an artist and then founding Uptown Records in 1986. Irving Azoff was involved in bringing Uptown into the MCA fold while he was CEO of MCA Records.
"Before Mr. Azoff left MCA in 1988, he and Mr. Busby had recruited Mr. Harrell, the architect of the third stage of the company's plan. Mr. Harrell has brought Mary J. Blige and the rappers Heavy D. and the Boyz to MCA. In 1992, his New York-based Uptown Records was made a full-fledged label, with its own publicity and promotion departments, for a reported $50 million. Started as an independent company, Uptown entered into an agreement with MCA in 1986 to supply it with acts. The latest deal includes music-related projects for film and television." - NYT 1993
The music industry is a small network with relationships that intertwine or untie throughout the years. While Irving Azoff wasn’t with MCA/Uptown when Lou Taylor worked with them, they somehow became acquainted. Upon Andre Harrell’s death in 2020, the L.A. Times quoted Irving Azoff saying that Andre Harrell was a “consummate music man”.13
Harrell is applauded for giving Mary J. Blige her first big break as a background singer. According to Mary J. Blige’s official website, she signed with Uptown in 1989 when she was 18 years old.14 The first song credit she has on the website Discog is for the Strictly Business soundtrack in 1991.15
[Note: The artist Stephanie Mills is also on the soundtrack. She will come up later. Put a pin in her.]
In the liner notes of Mary J. Blige’s debut 1992 album, What’s the 411?, she thanks “The Davimos Financial Advisors”.16
On the podcast Get Real, Lou Taylor describes being around when Mary J. Blige was in the studio recording her debut album.17 In this podcast excerpt, the host is just about to cue up the first single from that album entitled “Real Love”.
Whole Nine Yards: Davimos & Mills
In 1989, John Davimos and Cassandra Mills formed a music publishing company called Whole Nine Yards.18 Music publishing is one of the the most lucrative parts of the music industry. You can read more about the intricacies of music publishing on DIY Musician.
Whole Nine Yards had a splashy write-up in Cash Box when they launched and already held multiple titles from MCA Records.19
Cassandra Mills began her career managing Stephanie Mills, who released multiple albums on MCA throughout the 1980s and 1990s. On Stephanie Mills’ 1989 album Home, she thanks Cassandra Mills, John Davimos, and Irving Azoff.20
Azoff is Out at MCA
Irving Azoff stepped down from leading MCA’s music and records in 1989. His departure sounds innocuous, but everything always comes out in time.21
Azoff’s departure was in tandem with a constellation of scandals, the facts of which have never fully been disclosed to the public. There were multiple federal investigations that involved MCA’s ties to the mafia, which will be detailed in later parts of my Irving Azoff series. The Department of Justice investigations were largely squashed, but there were some MCA-related convictions including, Morris Levy and Sal “The Swindler” Pisello.
An investigation into MCA included that of the Vice President of the Home Entertainment Division, Eugene F. Giaquinto. This investigation was publicly announced in December 1988, and Giaquinto was quickly suspended from his position at MCA.222324 Irving stepped down from MCA, and his replacement was announced in September 1989.25
There is still a significant amount of mystery regarding Irving Azoff’s departure. Reflect on this excerpt from Premiere published in 1990:
Matters weren’t helped when the record division became embroiled in a Mob-related corruption scandal. And they worsened as he reportedly began battling to take over the management of MCA’s video division, headed by a rival executive, Eugene Giaquinto. When lurid references to Azoff began turning up on FBI wiretaps of Giaquinto’s telephone (the taps had been placed as part of a government probe of Mafia infiltration of the entertainment industry), Azoff looked worse than ever. Azoff wouldn’t comment on any of these things and terminated the interview, saying he was late for dinner.26
Giant Records Est. 1990
After Irving Azoff left MCA, he quickly founded the “independent” label Giant Records in partnership with Warners Brothers Records, whose parent company was Warner Communications.
In mid-1989, Warner Communications merged with Time, Inc. The Time Warner merger created “one of the largest communications and entertainment companies in the world [ever]”.27 Thus, despite whatever malfeasance Irving Azoff got up to at MCA, he was able to attain the backing of one of the most powerful media conglomerates in the world.
Cassandra Mills Joins the Giant
Irving Azoff personally recruited Cassandra Mills to work for Giant, and she swiftly became the president of Black Music.28 Cassandra Mills had no experience as a record executive, and she has conveyed that her meteoric rise raised many eyebrows in the industry. She appears to have understood the invaluable nature of her hire and has had a successful career in many business ventures.
Cassandra Mills still sings Irving Azoff’s praises decades later:29
Cassandra Mills understood the assignment.30
Again, I urge caution in forming judgments, as loyalty in professional relationships does not inherently imply complicity. In the high-stakes world of entertainment, moguls often operate with the secrecy of a mafia boss. Information is tightly controlled and compartmentalized, distributed strictly on a "need to know" basis. This structure can obscure the full scope of individual involvements and responsibilities, making it challenging to discern the nuances of these complex networks.
John Davimos & Giant
Davimos Advisors is thanked on some records that were released on Giant, including the Class Act soundtrack and Lisa Taylor’s “Did You Pray Today?”.3132 Remember, this is the era when Lou Taylor is lurking around with John Davimos, who is in the process of transitioning from a business manager to a talent manager/producer.
Cassandra Leaves Giant
A Billboard article from 1995 describes the departure of Cassandra from Giant:33
Reflecting some disappointment with the black music department of his Giant Records label, founder Irving Azoff has restructured the division following the resignation of Cassandra Mills, who was its president.
According to Azoff, her decision to leave was mutual. "We did not want a separate black music operation ... We wanted to eliminate her position."
Efforts to reach Mills, whose contract is said to have expired at the end of last year, were unsuccessful. Giant does not plan to replace her.
Not long after Cassandra left, Giant was really amping up country music while downplaying the significance of contemporary urban music and rock n’ roll.34
Trends and fortunes change, I suppose.
Irving Azoff, in town for his label Giant Records' fourth anniversary party and to meet with the label's new team of president Doug Johnson and executive VP John Burns, tells Nashville Scene he feels very optimistic about the future of country music. "It's one of the few areas left in our business where you can still hear real songs," he says. "I think a lot of what's going on in the urban and what we call the rock'n'roll sectors of the business is not what we all grew up with—which is great songs and great performances with great vocal styles. I think a lot of people in the 25-plus demographic who aren't traditional country music fans are migrating into this music. Country will expand because it represents this country, it represents Americana.
A Review of Giant Records:
“Giant Records, funded as a joint venture between former MCA Music Entertainment Group leader Irving Azoff, had mixed success, scoring with Color Me Badd and Don Henley's charity album, Common Thread, but also released Hammer's embarrassingly bad stab at gangsta rap. Giant claimed to be making money, but if that was the case, the bottom line was more attributable to Azoff 's financial acumen than the label's sales tonnage.” 35
MC Hammer cosplaying as Tupac:
Brian Wilson’s Giant Conservatorship
A Little Bit About A Big CON
In 1998, Brian Wilson released a “comeback” album on Giant.36 At the time of the release of Brian’s Imagination album, he had already been in a conservatorship for seven years. I’m not saying Azoff had anything to do with creating the conservatorship, just noting he saw how a conservatorship can get people to work.
A Washington Post article from December 1991 describes lead-up to Brian’s conservatorship:37
What the 49-year-old Wilson has to do is prove that he's capable of standing on his own. Right now he is at the center of a vitriolic battle for control of his life, his estate and his songs. Unless a compromise is reached soon, a hearing will begin in Santa Monica on Thursday to decide whether Wilson needs a court-appointed conservator to protect his interests. The hearing pits his estranged family -- mother Audree, brother Carl and daughters Carnie and Wendy (of the pop group Wilson Phillips) -- against Eugene Landy, the controversial psychologist who began treating Brian Wilson in 1983 and who, the family says, has exerted "undue influence" over his life, music and finances ever since.
By 1995, Brian was suing his former conservator Jerome Billet for $10 million because of how he handled lawsuits involving Brian’s publishing rights, including claims concerning breach of fiduciary duty and conflicts of interests.38
These acts all stemmed from the conduct of Billet and attorneys for Wilson during Wilson’s lawsuit against A&M Records and Love’s subsequent suit against Wilson. Both suits involved ownership rights to the majority of the Beach Boys’ biggest hits.
Like many major artists, Brian has been embroiled in numerous lawsuits concerning control of his creative output. The intricacies and details of these legal battles are extensive and complex, making it impractical to summarize them succinctly in this article. It's important to recognize that exploitation within the industry is not only common but also highly profitable, employing various strategies and mechanisms to exert control over artists and their work.
Using Our And Brian Wilson’s Imagination
Irving had this to say about Brian’s album on Giant Records:39
''I expect it to be a huge commercial success both here and abroad,'' said Irving Azoff, who runs Giant Records. '' I think it's deserving as a candidate to be the best comeback ever in the music business. And I'm going to do everything I can with this company to make sure it happens.''
This article may be a long preamble to connecting Lou Taylor to Brian Wilson’s conservatorship, which I will cover in-depth at a later time. If you follow the facts and the patterns over time, is it really hard to believe that Lou Taylor could have seen Brian Wilson’s conservatorship as a template?
Reflect on how this quote about Brian’s conservatorship sounds exactly like how the media discussed Britney Spears’ own conservatorship: “Today, thanks to a new doctor, new medication and a new family, Mr. Wilson seems like a gentle 55-year-old, more innocent than disturbed.”40
Ultimately, by 2021, Irving Azoff’s Iconic Music Group finagled a controlling interest in the Beach Boys’ catalog that is worth hundreds of millions.4142 History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes, and powerful relationships stand the test of time.
Irving Azoff the Mentor
The Mentees: Cassandra Mills & Lou Taylor
On a recent episode of the TAKEOFF podcast, Cassandra Mills is still effusively grateful to Irving Azoff for being the catalyst for her career trajectory.43
This is despite Cassandra Mill’s perhaps untimely exit from Giant. Yet, you can still hear how awe-inspiring Irving Azoff was to a young Black woman trying to become an executive in the entertainment industry.
In this episode of Real Good Company, Lou is discussing her early career, and she mentions that at the time, she couldn’t have even gotten Irving Azoff on the phone.44 It seems plausible that Lou knew from the beginning of her career who Irving was, just like Irving aspired to be like David Geffen by reading Rolling Stone.
Lou Taylor has also described Irving Azoff as her mentor. They began to have many mutual clients after 2014. This coincided with the success of Britney’s Piece of Me Las Vegas residency and Irving Azoff stepping down as the CEO of Live Nation/Ticketmaster.
Here is a short list of Lou and Irving’s mutual clients:45
Imagine how Lou Taylor would describe Irving Azoff’s impact on her career?
Imagine who is protecting Lou Taylor from in-depth public scrutiny to this day?
Imagine why the Kardashian-Jenners became Lou Taylor clients only in the later half of the 2010s….46
In conclusion, the careers of Lou Taylor and her associates in the music industry illuminate a network of intricate relationships and complex business dealings that extend across decades and involve some of the most influential figures in entertainment. From the formation of Whole Nine Yards to the controversial conservatorships of figures like Brian Wilson and Britney Spears, these narratives showcase a pattern of power dynamics and exploitation. While loyalty and mentorship have played significant roles in advancing careers, they also complicate the ethics of the industry, making it challenging to discern between complicity and mere business association. As we reflect on these stories, it's crucial to approach them with a critical eye and understand that in the world of music and entertainment, not everything is as it seems, and often, information is as managed as the careers of the artists themselves.
Continue to Part 4 of the Chronicle of Lou Taylor:
Footnotes
Kelly Horford Ruled Ineligible. South Florida Sun Times. November 4, 1986.
Unveiling The Exploitation of Youth Athletes. Money, Inc. January 29, 2020.
‘There’s no rules. It’s crazy’: New money in NCAA recruiting leaves elite athletes ripe for exploitation. NBC News. November 27, 2022.
'I signed my life to rich white guys': athletes on the racial dynamics of college sports. The Guardian. March 17, 2021.
Bette Midler to Bobby Brown: No.1 Songs From 1989. Billboard. June 16, 2017.
John Davimos post on Facebook. September 21, 2018.
John Davimos post on Facebook. October 25, 2012.
Strength of a Woman. Mary J. Blige. 2017.
Mary J. Blige Accepts the Icon Award | 2022 Billboard Music Awards. NBC on YouTube. May 15, 2022.
Andre Harrell’s radical, genius idea: Hip-hop and R&B belonged together. LA Times, May 10, 2020.
Courtney Love’s Twitter. The Wayback Machine.
Andre Herrell ‘s Radial, Genius Idea: Hip-Hop and R&B Belonged Together. LA Times. May 19, 2020.
Strictly Business (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). MCA Records. 1991.
What’s the 411? Mary J. Blige. MCA Records. 1992.
Lou Taylor. Get Real with Caroline Hobby. May 16, 2017.
Music Publishing. Cash Box, February 10, 1990, p. 8.
MCA Vice President Under FBI Investigation. United Press International. December 16, 1988.
Tickertape. Cash Box. September 16, 1989.
THE MEDIA BUSINESS; MCA Suspends Executive Named in Corruption Case. New York Times. December 16, 1988.
BUSINESS PEOPLE; MCA Music Group Names New Chairman. New York Times. September 6, 1989.
MCA Official Suspected of Funneling Funds to Mafia. Los Angeles Times. December 15, 1988.
MCA Faces the Future: Can King Kong in the Billion-Dollar Theme-Park Sweepstakes. Premiere. August 1990. p. 83.
Time Inc. Gains Control of Warner Within Hours of Court Approval. New York Times. July 25, 1989.
Off the Charts: Ruthless Days and Reckless Nights Inside the Music Industry. Bruce Haring. 1996. p.169.
Industry Buzz. Cash Box. December 25, 1993. p. 4.
Cassandra Mills’ tweet. Twitter. February 20, 2011.
Music From The Motion Picture: A Class Act. Giant Records. 1992.
Did you Pray Today. Giant Records. 1992.
Mills Leaves Giant's Black Music Division Billboard. January 14, 1995.
Azoff Talks About His Giant Agenda. Billboard. June 28, 1997. p. 22.
Secrets of the Heart. Lisa Taylor. 1992.
Imagination. Brian Wilson. 1998.
Brian Wilson and the Angry Vibrations. Washington Post. December 1, 1991.
Beach Boy Wilson sues former conservator. Variety. September 25, 1995.
POP/JAZZ; Brian Wilson Is Back. That Is, He's Back Again. New York Times. June 28, 1998.
See footnote 40.
Beach Boys Sell Controlling Interest in Intellectual Property to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group. Variety. February 18, 2021.
Inside the Ambitious Plan to Monetize the Beach Boys’ Legacy. Rolling Stone. February 18, 2021.
Cassandra Mills. TAKEoff podcast. October 31, 2021.
Lou Taylor: On Fearless Leadership. Real Good Company podcast. May 28, 2020.
The Business of Britney and Conservatorship Timeline. Melanie Carlson. 2021.
OBJECTified with Harvey Levin and guest Kris Jenner. Fox Business. December 25, 2019.