Clive Davis, the legendary music executive whose career touched virtually every corner of popular music, died today (June 22) at his Manhattan home. He was 94.
Over a career that spanned more than six decades, Davis became one of the most influential figures in the history of recorded music, building rosters and shaping careers that stretched from Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen to Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys and Outkast.
Born in Brooklyn in 1932, Davis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from New York University before earning his law degree from Harvard. He joined Columbia Records as an attorney and rose rapidly, becoming vice president and general manager in 1966 and president the following year. One of his first major moves was signing Joplin’s Big Brother and the Holding Company. He would go on to bring artists including Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Santana, Laura Nyro, Billy Joel, Springsteen, Aerosmith and Earth, Wind & Fire to the label, while also helping steer the careers of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Sly and the Family Stone, Barbra Streisand and Miles Davis.
Davis also helped usher in the rise of Philadelphia soul through a deal with Gamble & Huff that brought Philadelphia International Records into the Columbia fold, helping shape the sound of Black music in the 1970s. After departing Columbia in 1973, Davis authored the bestselling memoir Clive: Inside the Record Business and founded Arista Records with Columbia Pictures the following year. Almost immediately, the label struck gold with Barry Manilow’s “Mandy,” which Davis personally discovered and renamed. Arista would become home to Houston, Patti Smith, Kenny G and Sarah McLachlan, while attracting major acts including Aretha Franklin, Lou Reed, Hall & Oates, Dionne Warwick, the Grateful Dead and the Eurythmics.
His reach extended well beyond rock and pop. In 1988, Davis launched Arista Nashville, which quickly established itself through artists such as Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn and Brad Paisley. A year later, he partnered with L.A. Reid and Babyface to create LaFace Records, whose roster included TLC, Toni Braxton, Usher, Outkast and Pink. In 1994, a joint venture with Sean “Puffy” Combs resulted in Bad Boy Records, home to the Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans and Mase.
One of Davis’ greatest triumphs came with Santana’s Supernatural. The 1999 comeback album sold more than 26 million copies worldwide and won Album of the Year at the Grammys, with Davis sharing producer honors. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 as its only non-performer and also received the Recording Academy’s Trustees Lifetime Achievement Award.
That same year, Davis launched J Records, which introduced Keys to the world. Her debut, Songs in A Minor, sold more than 10 million copies and swept the Grammys. The label would also oversee successes from Maroon 5, Luther Vandross, Rod Stewart, Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis.
Away from the charts, Davis devoted himself to philanthropy and education. His pre-Grammy gala was the stuff of legends for decades, and in 2002, he donated $5 million to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts to establish the Department of Recorded Music, which later expanded into the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music following another $5 million gift. He also received numerous humanitarian honors and was deeply involved in AIDS-related causes beginning in the mid-1980s.
His autobiography, The Soundtrack of My Life, became a bestseller in 2013, and his life was chronicled in the acclaimed documentary Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, which opened the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017.
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