Vassal Benford
Chairman/Producer - Diamond Entertainment Group
Vassal Gradington Benford III has created, produced and marketed over 150 albums throughout his career. These albums have generated over $400 million in revenue for such companies as Arista, LAFace MCA/Universal, Motown, BMG, RCA, Mercury, EMI and Polygram. Vassal Benford is one of the most successful music moguls in the entertainment industry and certainly among the top ten producers in the world. The incredible track record of his work has included 8 Nominations by the Grammy Association and 11 Movie Scores by the film and television association. His body of work has included 57 Platinum Records awarded by the RIAA (Recording industry association of America), which has resulted in over $400 million dollars in sales worldwide. Awards include a Grammy, several R&B Awards, and a Juno Pop Award. Pop song writer of the year Awards, and producer of the year Awards.
Vassal's induction into the "fast track" of success started with Producer, Quincy Jones and Universal record executive Louil Silas Jr. He began working with such acts like: Toni Braxton, Bobby Brown, Mariah Carey, Queen Latifah, Patti Labelle, Faith Evans, Chante Moore, Lisa Stansfield. Deborah Cox was his multi-platinum discovery with the hit single "Nobody Suppose To Be Here" and Debelah Morgan which produced a hit album. Benford has recently collaborated with hit producer R. Kelly and Charlie Wilson. Earlier acts include The Jacksons, Stephanie Mills, Levert, Guy, Atlantic Star, New Edition, Aaron Hall, Oleta Adams, Vesta Williams.
His company has scored, and produced blockbuster films such as "Bad Company" starring Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. Earlier movie soundtracks include New Jack City (Wesley Snipes), Class Act (Kid N Play), House Party 2, The Associate (Whoopi Goldberg), The 6th Man (The Wayans Brothers). Benford has written hit theme songs for TV such as, The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, Fame L.A. and Malcom & Eddie. He has also worked with Lou Pearlman who invited him to Orlando, Florida to work with such acts as young superstars as NSYNC, Back Street Boys, and C-note. Benford has also worked with International acts such as London Beat and Michelle Gayle.
Benford continued his career as a record executive at Arista Records working closely with super music mogul Clive Davis. It was during his two-year tenure (Vaz/Arista) that he again developed and created the successful multi-platinum artist Deborah Cox. During this tenure his affiliation included other distributed labels such as LA Reid and Babyface's LaFace Records, and Sean Puffy Combs Bad Boy Records. After serving as CEO of a Vaz/Arista distributed label, he went onto work with Danny Goldberg, Chairman of PolyGram Music who started Artemis Records. It was at PolyGram that Benford began his relationship with Danny Goldberg where he served as Vice President of Motown with George Jackson (President).
Benford is presently recording upcoming releases for his new SONY/BMG distributed Multi Media Company , Benford has recently sign a deal with Whitney Houston, and Bobby Brown distributing there co-owned company (Brown Skin Entertainment) which includes reality shows...and his latest movie project... "Sunday", starring Rap Superstars P. Diddy, Nelly and Mase. He also has his eyes set on the lucrative Latin market and will be releasing "Double Tap" in the summer of 2007, starring America's first Latino martial arts action hero and martial arts Hall of Famer Fabian Carrillo, Latino Icon Pepe Serna and international singing sensation Jose Jose. Currently, Benford's executive producing four movies,and a cable television series for Fabian Carrillo and grooming him to be the next action hero. In addition, Benford is the executive producer and will be distributing Paris Hilton's next movie in the summer of 2007. He has also been asked to spearhead the making of "The Richard Pryor Story". With Benford's track record of success and his multi-media deal with Comcast that includes full length motion pictures, pay per view, television cable, music and music performance venues, Vassal Benford will turn all he touches to Gold.
