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Jerry Ade’s Maine Event
Jerry Ade spent 33 years in the music industry as an urban pioneer, founding Famous Artists Agency and repping some of the biggest names in hip-hop, funk and soul. Today, he’s still an urban pioneer – of a much different sort.
He no longer books tours for
"I terrorized the big agencies in the music business for 30 years and now I’m terrorizing the state of Maine," Ade told Pollstar.
Ade was at the pinnacle of the entertainment industry when he decided he’d had enough. He’d founded and made a success of Famous Artists after buying out his partners at General Talent International when founder Norby Walters left in 1988. His company immediately gave ICM and CAA a run for their money.
Ade was a Pollstar Agent of the Year nominee in 1989 and 1990 and his agency and its artists including New Kids on the Block and C+C Music Factory were racking up nods through 1991. And he’d already spent years working with the top black acts in popular music including
But by the mid-’90s changes in the industry as well as social forces affecting his artists had taken their toll.
"The music business used to be a $50 billion business," he explained. "It’s a $6 billion business now. What I decided was to take my energy and go into a business where I could grow again.
"I threw up my hands and gave my clients to whoever worked for me who wanted whatever there was. At the time, I was also representing all kinds of writers and producers. I decided to put my energies into a business that could be built and grown after suffering through all the changes in music."
Ade then went on a nationwide search for a place to start over, including Florida, the Carolinas, Palm Springs, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
"I decided I was not going back to the music business and I’d be tempted to do that if I went to L.A. So I decided on Portland, Maine, and bought a building. Gutted it and rehabbed it. I bought a couple more buildings. I built a couple of businesses and even became the poster boy for the bank I borrow from."
Besides having his face adorning advertising for Saco & Biddeford Savings Bank, Ade made a name for himself by taking on the city to get a methadone clinic included in one of his downtown buildings.
"I’ve been a fistfighter my whole life," he said. "It was a tremendous battle but I felt it was a necessary evil we needed in that city and we got it through. The local politicians and city controllers were prejudiced. They all had a ‘not in my backyard’ attitude.
"As it turned out, I had to go through public referendum, go before boards and pass everything. There was no public sentiment against it. The clinic was in the right location at the right time.
"There was no backlash, but you have individuals with their own point of view and sometimes they are wrong. So they have to be spanked and forced into doing it right, just like in the music business," Ade said, laughing.
The experience served as a catalyst. Ade became involved in local and state politics, albeit behind the scenes. He has no interest in running for office but is taking college courses in civic leadership and collaborative negotiations to hone his new skills.
"I’m not opposed to affecting change," he said. "Every place needs positive change. The music business needed positive change. I’d like to think my company and myself were innovative in a lot of things we did and changed a lot of policies for a lot of people."
He doesn’t seem to miss the pace of Manhattan or the challenges of the music industry. In two years, he’s at the top of another game in his adopted home of 260,000 and is one of the top commercial property developers in Maine.
"We kept a lot of people on their toes at Famous and General Artists, and nothing has stopped with me," Ade said. "A lot of guys my age are retiring and going into other things.
"I’m actively doing all kinds of stuff and finding new ways to start new businesses. I’ve got real estate, I’m also manufacturing scarves for collegiate things and I’ve got a business in art studios. I’ve got three separate businesses. I’m an urban pioneer in Portland now."