DIVAS FOR DECADES
Epic ruler L.A. Reid’s retail smash with breakout star Meghan Trainor is another big score in the big baller’s power alley: pop divas.
Reid, a true music man with impeccable ears, has served as Svengali to a long list of sirens during his stints at LaFace, Arista and IDJ, including Rihanna, Mariah Carey (whose career he revived with The Emancipation of Mimi), P!nk, Avril Lavigne, Toni Braxton and TLC.
Trainor’s moved more than 6m singles in addition to her 200k first-week albums (that’d be 800k TEA). P!nk’s sold 16m; Rihanna moved 10.2m; Carey’s Mimi sold 6m (and had her biggest first week up to that point); Lavigne sold 12m+; Braxton’s seen more than 15m in sales; and TLC moved in excess of 16m. All of these artists have been huge international sellers as well.
With Trainor, Reid has once again squired a distinctive female voice to the pinnacle of pop. And recent rumors suggest he’ll be reuniting with Carey for what could be her third big act.
