Vicki Mack Lataillade

When I received confirmation that Vicki Mack Lataillade had in fact, accepted my request do a TV interview with her, I felt especially honored.  I almost felt like Oprah must have felt when she did her first interview with superstars like Diana Ross, Denzel Washington or President Clinton.  Then I began to reflect back to many years ago when I first met Vicki.  She was at Light Records and then went to Sparrow Records helping to catapult new upcoming gospel artists into gospel icons.  I am sure she did not envision that these experiences would inaugurate her into a destiny of Entrepreneur achievements that would put her in the “Millionaire’s club”.   It did not matter what problems she faced while fine tuning a promotion of her artist, Vicki always flashed a smile that made you feel welcomed into her circle of friends.  I believe this is the disposition that has helped to catapult her into an industry that was primarily male dominated as far as the influential executive positions were concerned.  Yes, there are many strong women who have made and broke artists both secular and gospel but in positions of servitude, not as CEO, chairman of the board, owner, etc.  I prepared myself for a subdued, distant person who had developed amnesia of the old days.  One who did not remember that I was the very first person to interview Kirk Franklin on radio in Los Angeles when he released his first project “Why We Sing”.  You see then, he was a new artist and the station thought it best not to break him in on the morning drive show, so I interviewed him on my  Sunday morning show.

  Vicki Mack Lataillade is the one of the most influential executives in gospel music. As the founder and owner of Gospo Centric and B-Rite Music, the Los Angeles entrepreneur has changed the face of gospel music and in the process has created a roster of superstar artists selling millions of CDs. Her multi-platinum award winning gospel artists include the sensational Kirk Franklin, Kelly Price, Kurt Carr, God’s Property, Dave Hollister, and the Gotta Have Gospel Compilation.

Gospo Centric Records was named the #1 gospel label in America by Billboard Magazine with sales topping more than 30 million CDs. In addition to Gospo Centric, Mack Lataillade's projects and companies in the music industry have resulted in sales of more than 100 million records sold!

Vicki Mack Lataillade started in the music business in the mid 70’s as the first African American woman in the RCA Music Internship program. She was recruited by the then owned Random House Publishing company while attending UCLA. Her influence soon reached far and wide. Revolutionizing the genre from the moment she stepped onto the Faith-based platform, she cut her teeth by breaking then unknown artists like The Winans, Hawkins, Commissioned (Fred Hammond), Richard Smallwood, Tramaine Hawkins, The Clark Sisters, Andrae Crouch and Vicki Winans just to name a few, all still cornerstones of the gospel industry today. During her time at both Light and Sparrow Records she created revolutionary marketing concepts never used before in this genre.

A native of San Mateo, California, where her mother, the honorable Claire Mack resided as mayor for almost a decade, it was her supportive father who gave Vicki a $6,000.00 loan in 1993 from his postal retirement money to launch Gospo Centric Records. Vicki and Claude Lataillade, her husband and partner, were soon on their way to making entertainment business history. One of their first projects was from a little known artist named Kirk Franklin and his self titled project changed the game forever. While rap was the #1 music among the young, churches and congregations of parents, tried to pretend it didn’t exist, says Mack Lataillade. Unable to convince major labels that it was possible to create music that praised God while appealing to the musical inclinations of urban youth, she developed the kind of spiritual music her own children would like.

Her instincts proved once again spot on. Gospo Centric, and the sound she helped to create, had gone on to becoming a leading force in today’s urban Gospel marketplace. In 1996, her husband Claude Lataillade founded B-Rite Music, envisioned as a more eclectic and avant-garde label. The two labels were merged in 2001. Gospo Centric and B-Rite Music artists include Platinum selling, Kirk Franklin, Gold-selling Stellar Award winner Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers, near platinum Trin-i-tee 5:7, Gold Compilation Project “Gotta Have Gospel”, Kelly Price, J Moss, Byron Cage, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Reggae legend Papa San, Natalie Wilson & the SOP Chorale, Percy Bady and American Idol "Wild Card" R.J. Helton, just to name a few.

In 2005, Vicki and Claude sold their record companies to Zomba Records, part of the Sony BMG family of labels but retained ownership of the publishing company “Lilly Mack Publishing”. After spending a year and a half helping them through the transition to new ownership, the couple left Zomba in 2007 to pursue the next phase in their illustrious careers.

"I have come full circle from my start as an intern for RCA some 30 years ago, to selling my own successful label," said Mrs. Lataillade. "This has been my own American Dream."

Lilly Mack Publishing has a catalog comprised of more than 800 songs written by some of gospel music’s premier artists and writers.  

Vicki and Claude has embarked on another venture, which I am sure will make a great impact on the church music ministries nation wide.  Today there are so many churches that don’t have musicians.  There’s simply not enough musicians to go around and most Churches cannot afford the ones who are available.  But thanks to Vicki help is on the way.

In one of the first deals of its kind, EMI CMG Publishing and Lilly Mack Publishing, home to the song catalogue of Grammy® Award winning, multi-platinum artist Kirk Franklin, and one of the world’s largest Gospel music catalogues, have agreed to a groundbreaking partnership that will open new territories for gospel songwriters and their music, announced Eddie DeGarmo, president of EMI CMG Publishing and Vicki Mack-Lataillade and Claude Lataillade, owners of Lilly Mack Music Publishing and founders of Gospo Centric Records. Under this unique agreement, this market leading Gospel catalogue will work with the biggest Christian music publisher to extend the reach of the Gospel genre beyond its core market.  Each song will be accompanied by the corresponding sound track.

Look for great things for Vicki with the new venture – Lilly Mack Publishing.  

If you know of any Gospel event or a Gospel artist who deserves salute. E-mail me the information, 300 words or less along with pictures, to: gospelmusic@freedomsjournal.us