Clive Davis | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Davis in 2023 | |
| Born | Clive Jay Davis (1932-04-04)April 4, 1932 (age 93) Brooklyn,New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn |
| Alma mater | New York University Harvard Law School |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, record executive |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Website | clivedavis |
Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an Americanrecord producer,A&R executive,record executive, and lawyer. He has won fiveGrammy Awards and was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.[1]
From 1967 to 1973, Davis was the president ofColumbia Records. He was founder and president ofArista Records from 1974 through 2000 until foundingJ Records. From 2002 until April 2008, he was chair andCEO of theRCA Music Group (which includedRCA Records,J Records, andArista Records), chair and CEO of J Records, and chair and CEO ofBMG North America.
Davis is credited with hiring a young recording artist,Tony Orlando, for Columbia in 1967. He has signed many artists who achieved significant success, includingSly and the Family Stone,Janis Joplin,Laura Nyro,Santana,Bruce Springsteen,Chicago,Billy Joel,Donovan,Bay City Rollers,Blood, Sweat & Tears,Loggins and Messina,Ace of Base,Aerosmith,Olivia Longott,Pink Floyd andWestlife. He is also credited with bringingWhitney Houston andBarry Manilow to prominence.[2]
As of 2018, Davis is thechief creative officer ofSony Music Entertainment.[3]
Davis was born inBrooklyn, New York City, toJewish parents,[4] Herman and Florence Davis. His father was an electrician and salesman.[5] Davis was raised inCrown Heights, Brooklyn,[5] and attendedErasmus Hall High School.[6]
His mother died at age 47, and his father died the following year when Davis was still a teenager. He then moved in with his married sister, who lived inBayside, Queens.[5]
Davis attendedNew York University College of Arts & Science, where he graduated[5]magna cum laude with a degree inpolitical science[7] andPhi Beta Kappa in 1953. He received a full scholarship toHarvard Law School, where he was a member of theBoard of Student Advisers and graduated in 1956.[8]
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Davis practiced law in a small firm in New York,[9] then moved on to the firm ofRosenman, Colin, Kaye, Petschek, and Freund two years later, where partner Ralph Colin hadCBS as a client.[10] Davis was subsequently hired by a former colleague at the firm, Harvey Schein, to become assistant counsel of CBS subsidiaryColumbia Records at age 28, and then general counsel the following year.[11]
As part of a reorganization of Columbia Records Group, group presidentGoddard Lieberson appointed Davis as administrative vice president and general manager in 1965.[12] In 1966, CBS formed the Columbia-CBS Group which reorganized CBS's recorded music operations intoCBS Records with Davis heading the new unit.[13]
The next year, Davis was appointed president and became interested in the newest generation offolk rock androck and roll. One of his earliest pop signings was the British folk-rock musicianDonovan, who enjoyed a string of successful hit singles and albums released in the U.S. on theEpic Records label. That same year, Davis hired 23-year-old recording artistTony Orlando as general manager of Columbia publishing subsidiaryApril-Blackwood Music; Orlando went on to become vice-president of Columbia/CBS Music and signedBarry Manilow in 1969.[14]
In June 1967, Davis attended theMonterey Pop Festival after his friends and business associate,Lou Adler, convinced him.[15] He immediately signedJanis Joplin withBig Brother and the Holding Company, and Columbia went on to signLaura Nyro,The Electric Flag,Santana,The Chambers Brothers,Bruce Springsteen,Chicago,Billy Joel;Blood, Sweat & Tears,Loggins and Messina,Aerosmith, andPink Floyd (for rights to release their material outside of Europe).[citation needed]
One of the most commercially successful recordings released during Davis' tenure at Columbia wasLynn Anderson'sRose Garden, in late 1970. It was Davis who insisted that "Rose Garden" be the country singer's next single release. The song crossed over and was a No. 1 hit in 16 countries worldwide. "Rose Garden" remained the biggest-selling album by a female country artist for 27 years.[citation needed]
In 1972, Davis signedEarth, Wind & Fire to Columbia Records. One of his most recognized accomplishments was signing theBoston groupAerosmith to Columbia Records in the early 1970s at New York City'sMax's Kansas City. The accomplishment was mentioned in the 1979 Aerosmith song "No Surprize", whereSteven Tyler sings, "Old Clive Davis said he's surely gonna make us a star, I'm gonna make you a star, just the way you are."[16] Starting on December 30, 1978,[17] Bob Weir of theGrateful Dead occasionally changed the lyrics of the Dead standard "Jack Straw" in concert from "we used to play for silver, now we play for life", to "we used to play for acid, now we play for Clive."[18]
One of the last bands Davis tried to sign to Columbia Records was the Detroit bandDeath.[19]
ARolling Stone Magazine article dated July 5, 1973 reportsCBS fired Clive Davis "amid allegations of misuse of funds and providing drugs to artists and disk jockeys" as part of an allegedpayola scandal.[20]
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After Davis was fired from CBS Records in 1973 for allegedly using company funds to bankroll his son'sbar mitzvah,[21][13][22][23]Columbia Pictures then hired him to be a consultant for the company'sBell Records label. Davis took time out to write his memoirs and then foundedArista Records in 1974.[24][25][26] The company was named after New York City's secondary school honor societyof that name, of which Davis was a member.[27]
At Arista, Davis signedBarry Manilow, followed byAretha Franklin,Dionne Warwick,Patti Smith,Westlife,Al Jourgensen,The Outlaws,Eric Carmen,Kenny G, theBay City Rollers,Exposé,Taylor Dayne,Ace of Base,Air Supply,Ray Parker Jr.,Raydio, andAlicia Keys, and he broughtCarly Simon,Melissa Manchester,Grateful Dead,The Kinks,Jermaine Stewart,Gil Scott-Heron (on whose episode ofTV One'sUnsung Davis was interviewed) andLou Reed to the label.[citation needed] He co-founded Arista Nashville in 1989 withTim DuBois, which became the home toAlan Jackson,Brooks & Dunn,Pam Tillis, andBrad Paisley.[28]
Davis foundedLaFace Records withL.A. Reid andBabyface.[citation needed] LaFace subsequently became the home ofTLC,Usher,Outkast,Pink andToni Braxton.[citation needed] He founded Bad Boy Records withSean "Puffy" Combs and it became the home ofThe Notorious B.I.G.,Craig Mack, Combs,Mase,112, andFaith Evans, although Davis would later admit that he never quite understoodrap music.[citation needed] In 1998, Davis signedLFO from European Success. LFO charted #3 with "Summer Girls" in 1999, and went on to multiplatinum success.[citation needed]
During the Arista years, he set up his own production company Clive Davis Entertainment, for a two-year first-look agreement with movie studioTriStar Pictures in 1987.[29]
Davis was made aware ofCissy Houston's daughterWhitney Houston after he saw the Houstons perform at a New York City nightclub. Impressed with what he heard, Davis signed her to Arista. Houston became one of the biggest selling artists in music history under the guidance of Davis at Arista.[30]
Davis left Arista in 2000 and startedJ Records, an independent label with financial backing from Arista parentBertelsmann Music Group, named with the middle initial of Davis and his four children.[31] BMG would buy a majority stake in J Records in 2002, and Davis would become president and CEO of the largerRCA Music Group.
Davis' continued success in breaking new artists was recognised by the music industry A&R siteHitQuarters when the executive was named "world's No.1 A&R of 2001" based on worldwide chart data for that year.[32]
In 2004, BMG merged withSony Music Entertainment to formSony BMG. With the assets of the former CBS Records (renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991) now under Sony's ownership, the joint venture would mean a return of sorts for Davis to his former employer. Davis remained with RCA Label Group until 2008, when he was named chief creative officer for Sony BMG.
Davis was elevated to Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment,[33] a title he currently holds, as part of a corporate restructuring when Sony BMG became Sony Music Entertainment in late 2008 when BMG sold its shares to Sony.[3]Arista Records and J Records, which were both founded by Davis, were dissolved in October 2011 through the restructuring ofRCA Records. All artists under those labels were moved to RCA Records.[34]
As a producer, Davis has won fourGrammy Awards.[35]
| Award | Year | Artist | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grammy Award for Album of the Year | 1994 | The Bodyguard byWhitney Houston | Won |
| Grammy Award for Album of the Year | 2000 | Supernatural bySantana | Won |
| Grammy Award for Best Rock Album | 2000 | Supernatural by Santana | Won |
| Grammy Award for Best R&B Album | 2009 | Jennifer Hudson,Jennifer Hudson | Won |
Davis also received theGrammy Trustees Award in 2000[36] and the President's Merit Award at the2009 Grammys.[37] In 2011, the 200-seat theater at theGrammy Museum was named the "Clive Davis Theater".[38]
In 2000, Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in thenon-performers category.[39] The same year, he received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[40]
In 2015, he was recognized by Equality Forum as one of the 31 Icons of theLGBT History Month.[41]
Davis was a 2018 Honoree atThe New Jewish Home's Eight Over Eighty Gala.
An alumnus of New York University, Davis is a significant benefactor to it. The recorded music division of itsTisch School of the Arts, is named after him: theClive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Davis was portrayed byOscar nominated actor,Stanley Tucci, inSony Pictures'sWhitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody – a biopic about the life and music of Houston. Davis also served as a producer on the film.[42]
Davis has been married and divorced twice. He was married to Helen Cohen from 1956 to 1965 and to Janet Adelberg from 1965 to 1985. He has four children: Fred (born 1960), a prominent media investment banker,[43] Lauren (born 1962), an entertainment attorney and arts professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Mitchell (born 1970), andDoug Davis (born 1974), a music executive and Grammy award-winning record producer. [44] Davis has eight grandchildren.[45][46]
In 2013, at the age of 80, Davis publicly came out asbisexual in his autobiographyThe Soundtrack of My Life.[47] On the daytime talk showKatie, he told hostKatie Couric that he hoped his coming out would lead to "greater understanding" of bisexuality.[48] The autobiography was the basis for the two-hour documentaryClive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives.
Beginning what may be the second most massive cover-up of the past months, CBS fired its records division president, Clive Davis ...
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President ofCBS Records 1967–1973 | Succeeded by Goddard Lieberson |
| Preceded by first | Founder & President ofArista Records 1974–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by first | Founder & Chief Executive Officer ofJ Records 2000 to April 2004 | Succeeded by none (J Records began functioning under theRCA Music Group) |
| Preceded by first | Chief Executive Officer ofRCA Music Group 2002 to April 2008 | Succeeded by Barry Weiss (RCA/Jive Label Group) |
| Preceded by first | Chief Creative Officer ofSony Music Entertainment April 2008–present | Succeeded by incumbent |