Clive Davis, one of the most successful and iconic executives in the history of the record business, has passed away. Over decades in the business, Davis pushed the careers of stars like Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston, and Alicia Keys, as well as signing dozens of others. The New York Times reports that Davis passed away at home in Manhattan today, after a recent hospitalization for respiratory problems. Davis was 94.
Clive Davis grew up Jewish and middle-class in Brooklyn, and he studied at NYU and Harvard Law. At 28, he became an in-house lawyer at Columbia Records, and he rose to administrative vice president and general manager in 1965. Columbia was reluctant to sign rock 'n' roll acts, but Davis was an early adapter to folk-rock and psychedelic pop. He signed acts like Donovan, and he hired future star Tony Orlando as general manager of Columbia's publishing subsidiary. In 1967, Davis attended the Monterey Pop Festival and had his mind blown, and he quickly signed Janis Joplin.
In the years that followed, Davis had a hugely successful run at Columbia, signing artists like Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Aerosmith, who namechecked him on their song "No Surprize." He also locked down the rights to release Pink Floyd's records in the US. In return, Columbia fired Davis and sued him in 1973, accusing him of misappropriating company funds for his personal expenses.
In 1974, as he was being investigated and eventually cleared for taking part in a payola scheme, Davis founded his own Arista label. There, he went on a similarly successful run, singing acts like Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, and the Grateful Dead. He revived the careers of Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin, who had huge hits after signing with Arista. Later on, he spearheaded his old friend Carlos Santana's late-'90s comeback. Davis co-founded LaFace records with Babyface and LA Reid and Bad Boy Records with Sean "Diddy" Combs. Most famously, Davis discovered and molded the career of Whitney Houston, who became a commercial juggernaut in the '80s and '90s.
In 2000, Davis was ousted from Arista, and he founded another label, J Records, where he signed artists like a then-unknown Alicia Keys, as well as established stars like D'Angelo and Busta Rhymes. Davis was also heavily involved in the first few seasons of American Idol, and he signed many of the show's winners, including Kelly Clarkson. Davis was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2000, and he donated $5 million to endow NYU's Clive Davis Department Of Recorded Music in 2002. His annual pre-Grammy parties became music-industry tradition, and many artists got major career boosts from performing at them.
Davis was a famously avuncular figure who loved playing the role of music-business kingmaker, and he was often just as famous as the stars whose careers he guided. He was known for having a legendary ear, an instinct for which songs could became hits, and he was just as known for limiting the artistic decisions of the artists working underneath him. He was a titanic figure in all sorts of ways, and we won't see anyone quite like him ever again.
