Mark Green
Photographed by the subject, at his home in the Dominican Republic, 2020

Origins. Every successful person began somewhere, was moved and motivated by people, things, and events, and some of the greatest lessons exist not only in why it happened, but how it occurred.

Mark Green, THHM Artist Relations Committee Chair, member of the Advisory Board and Archives and Collections Committee, and owner of Celebrity Talent Agency, generously shared some of his origins with me earlier this month. I say “some” because we do not have sufficient space here to share all of the gems. This feature shares how one of the industry’s most successful agents and record executives went from “ghetto famous” to internationally known.

It began somewhere, or in some places and times before Mark toured with, managed, distributed work by, and represented Melba Moore, Lillo Thomas, the Force M.D.s, the Boogie Boys, Al B. Sure!, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Roxanne Shanté, Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella, Sparky Dee, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Les Nubians, Phyllis Hyman, Tom Browne, MC Shan, Biz Markie, Teena Marie, James “J.T.” Taylor (The O’Jays and Kool and the Gang), Chaka Khan, Prince, Roy Ayers, Lil Jon, Cissy Houston, Dennis Edwards, and Grandmaster Flash. Read on if you want to know more.

As the story goes, it all began in 1975. When Mark was in high school, his band Black Pearl (co-created with his friend Freddie Williams) broke up. As a result, Mark had a lot of equipment. 

While Black Pearl had made a name for itself in and around Bergen County, New Jersey, via covering 70s R&B hits at weddings and cocktail sips, Mark amplified (operationally) the band equipment with his mother’s records. After connecting the equipment to the band’s cabinet speakers, and borrowing a turntable from a friend, all this up-and-coming DJ needed were places to spin. Those would soon follow, and DJ L.C. (a moniker born of his football name LC Greenwood) would be playing funk, soul, R&B, pop, and disco artists’ best songs at private parties, rec centers, and sporting events.

Assisted by his partner David Heard (aka Rock Bottom), the native of Hackensack, New Jersey made a name for himself on the decks. He was so successful, a promoter invited him to compete in the Battle of the DJs in the Bronx. While it was only nine miles from Hackensack to the Bronx, culturally and musically, it was a galaxy away. In May 1977, Mark drove himself to the competition. Once he set up, it was on: “I was the first one up, and there were three of us competing. When I was playing my set, one of the other guys started, and more than half of my viewers were watching him. I shut down my equipment to see what was happening on the other side. This was the first time I saw someone rapping on a mic. I went home and wrote my first rap.”

Mark went on to bring rap to New Jersey, “where no one in the area had heard” the genre. Word, and impact, traveled fast. Known as the “Golden Voice” and the host of WPIX’s live program “Soul Alive,” DJ Gerry Bledsoe, learned about Mark. In 1977, on his 18^th birthday, Mark was a guest on the live show, deejaying and rapping. After that, as they say, the rest was history. Mark booked all over the state of New Jersey. He “was always working.” And he was still in high school.

Fate is often kind to those who have the courage to share their gifts with the community. Guy O’Brien, better known to the world today as Master Gee, started coming around and following Mark during his Friday and Saturday performances. Was it the discs that brought these artists together? Nope. “We went to high school together, where he was a freshman and I was a junior. We met when we both liked the same girl, and she chose neither of us.” She may not have chosen either of them, and I think it’s safe to say music chose both of them.

Flash forward to fall, 1978: Mark enrolls at Virginia State University. Soon, he is deejaying at two clubs, and nearly drops out because he’s on the 1s and the 2s instead of going to class. Fate played its hand again, in a roundabout way, when Mark returned to Petersburg, Virginia after visiting his family for Thanksgiving. His off-campus apartment had been ransacked, and all of his DJ equipment, including hundreds of vinyl records, were stolen. 

Mark faced this in the ways he always had, and always does, which was with a lane change on the road he was forever dedicated to. “To me, as long as I was around music, that was the only thing that mattered.” Without equipment and records, Mark was no longer a DJ. No matter. “I’d been doing music since I was in the eighth grade,” he declared to me. “I met a promoter, and he had me work as a roadie for Melba Moore, Phyillis Hyman, Peabo Bryson, and Tom Browne.”

Learning tactically can be as effective, if not more, than reading books about best practices and watching films of people who do the work. While on the road and touring, Mark set up stage equipment, ran the spotlights, picked artists up at the airport, and applying his passion to every task. “Phyliss Hyman and Melba Moore saw my passion, gave me their phone numbers, and told me I could call them.” 

Before he made his name as a manager, agent, and industry leader, Mark cut his teeth as an intern in sound engineering at Sugar Hill Records during its pre-Hip Hop years when it was called All Platinum Records. After becoming friends with legendary composer Al Goodman and influential record executive André Perry, Mark “picked their brains about working in the music business.” I’ll reserve Mark’s story of how he actually secured his internship at Sugar Hill Records, and suffice to say he hit the ground running. While interning (during college), he reported to head of engineering Billy Jones and worked with Grandmaster Flash, the Sugar Hill Gang (whose members now included Master Gee), The Sequence, and the West Street Mob.

After graduating from Virginia State in 1983, with a B.A, in Music Education, Mark found himself at a turning point. He recalled, “By 1985, I was on tour with the Fresh Fest as the manager of the Boogie Boys. I was dealing with agents all the time, and as much as they were corporate – with the suits and the offices overlooking Manhattan – I liked the look. I had been in the street element all my life, and I wanted a job where I made real money.” He went on to tell me how he heard about an opening for an agent-in-training at Associated Booking Corp (ABC). He applied and was hired. 

Mark realized something significant and dedicated to it for the rest of his professional life: “What I was doing on the road was a reflection of what I’d be doing there – dealing with contracts, managing relationships, protecting talent, and negotiating deals. I completed the training quickly. When I say I was born to do this and it’s in my blood, I say that because it’s in blood. I had been the lead actor, and now I was going to be the director.”

What was it about being an agent that moved Mark from spinning and audio editing? “An agent finds work for the artists and celebrities and negotiates the fees. It’s always hard, because it’s a sales job. You have to come up with ways to sell, you have to learn the marketplace in every city, state, and country, including what are people listening to and requesting from radio hosts.” Being the person artists looked forward to hearing from – not only because you provide the money, but because you provide the opportunities – meant something to Mark.

In truth, Mark’s first desire since graduating from Virginia State was to work as a record executive. His path to this must be read or heard to be believed. Growing up in Bergen County, New Jersey, which was also the home of Sylvia Robinson, Ben E. King, and the Isley Brothers (the latter were born in Cincinnati, Ohio and their family moved to Teaneck), Mark had opportunities to speak with established musicians. And, it was via his classmate and Black Pearl co-founder Freddie Williams that Mark met iconic songwriter arranger, orchestra conductor, and record producer Freddie Perren. Freddie Perren was Freddie Williams’s uncle.

While at Freddie W’s house, Mark came to see loads of Jackson Five gold records. They were there because Uncle Freddie – Mr. Perren – had written and produced songs for the band. Mr. Perren moved from Motown Records, in Detroit, to Capitol Records in Los Angeles. While at Capitol, he wrote “I Will Survive” for Gloria Gaynor, “It Only Takes a Minute” and “More Than a Woman” for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, “Hot Line” for The Sylvers, “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” for G.C. Cameron (for the movie Cooley High and Boyz II Men went on to re-record it), and many more hits. During their phone conversations, in response to Mark’s statement that he wanted to be a DJ, Mr. Perren was direct and concise: “Mark, you don’t want to play the records; you want to make the records.” 

Mark would go on to seek information from every person he knew in the record business. His experience on tours served him well: “Because I knew a lot of people in Hip Hop – I was on the road with Whodini, Divine Sounds, Red Alert, the Fat Boys, Rappin’ Duke, 1985’s Fresh Fest artists – and they knew me so they came to me or were eager and willing to come to where I was working when I became an agent. I was one of few Black agents in the music industry in the 1980s. Being a Black agent was like showing up at a party to which you weren’t invited.”

While working in distribution at Capitol/EMI Records, Mark met EMI’s Director of Promotions, Glynice Coleman. After they met, she asked him to work at EMI. Beginning in 1989, Mark was the manager of the Jazz Department and the Rap Department. Soon after, he was promoted to be EMI’s Director of Marketing and Sales. As Mark remembers, and history confirms, “The latter [the Rap Department] was challenging because the corporation had yet to have the experience marketing a genre that – in 1989 – had not found its footing in public. They felt the risk was high. In 1989, only Whodini (Jive), Kurtis Blow (Mercury Records), and the Boogie Boys (Capitol) had been signed by major labels. Everyone else was with independent labels.” 

Besides working with all the music genres at EMI, Mark wrote and produced a top ten record called “Midnight Hour” by Spice MC on his own label, On Cue Records. Spice MC was later signed to EMI Records. During all of this work, Mark found his light. “As a creative person, working in marketing and promotions was better for me.” 

As a record executive, Mark redefined the role as the industry knew it. He needed to do more than successfully promote and sell, and direct his team how to best do these things. Today, as the general manager of Lehman Performing Arts Theatre (and owner of Celebrity Talent Agency), his understanding of contracts, negotiating deals, knowing how artists operate, appreciation of marketing and sales, trendcasting, and delivering shows that make the audiences and the artists happy are all skills whose existence began when he played the first record as DJ L.C.

Mark’s contribution to the performing arts, and what we’re doing at The Hip Hop Museum, is far from over. His Instagram is always showing what is possible, and the client roster at Celebrity Talent Agency is one you need to see to believe. Much appreciation and respect for Mark Green.

by Kate Harvie, Contributing Writer for The Hip Hop Museum (originally published April 2024)