Clive Davis, the music industry executive who guided Columbia Records through its late-60s/early-70s heyday and went on to have an extraordinarily successful career in pop music, has died at the age of 94.
According to reports, Davis was hospitalised last month, suffering from respiratory problems, but was released shortly after and died today (June 22) at his home in Manhattan.
“Over here on E Street, we mourn the death of the great record man and close friend Clive Davis,” posted Bruce Springsteen. “At 22 years old, he changed my life when he signed me to Columbia Records. He treated me with the same respect and kindness as a 22-year-old nobody as he did after all my success. A great man. All our prayers and love.”
Davis was born in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1932. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1956, he found his way to Columbia Records, where he was appointed president in 1966
Fascinated by the growth of folk and rock’n’roll, he would first sign Donovan to the label, before going on to bring Big Brother and the Holding Company, Laura Nyro, The Electric Flag, Santana, The Chambers Brothers, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Ten Years After, Billy Joel, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Aerosmith and Pink Floyd to Columbia.
Fired by Columbia in 1975 amid allegations of financial impropriety, he went on to found Arista Records, where he created a home for Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Ministry, the Alan Parsons Project, The Outlaws, Air Supply, Carly Simon, Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Lou Reed, Enuff Z’Nuff and many more.
More success came at R&B label LaFace, which he founded with producers L.A. Reid and Babyface, where Whitney Houston, TLC, Usher, Outkast, Pink and Toni Braxton would all enjoy multi-platinum album sales.
Davis left Arista in 2000 and started J Records, where D’Angelo, Luther Vandross, Jamie Foxx, and Monica all achieved major success, before ending his career as Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment.
Davis’s track record wasn’t perfect – he told Meat Loaf that Jim Steinman was incapable of writing songs and said Yes’s Owner Of A Lonely Heart was “too strange” to be a hit – but it’s estimated that Davis worked with artists who cumulatively sold more than a billion albums over the course of his sixty-year career.
Carlos Santana, who was signed by Davis to Columbia in 1968 and to Arista in 1999 – where his Supernatural album sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide – has paid tribute.
“Clive understood that music is more than entertainment,” Santana wrote. “Music is a healing force. It brings people together beyond fear, beyond separation, beyond borders. He dedicated his life to championing artists and helping them share their gifts with the world.
“Clive recognised the light in people. He encouraged artists to trust their own voice and step into their destiny. Because of his vision, countless musicians were able to reach hearts across the planet.”
“To this very day, I listen to the newest records as they reach, let’s say, the top 20 of each genre,” Davis told Variety in 2022. “I’ve always made sure that I didn’t listen only to what we were doing, and that I was aware and studying and totally cognizant.
“I found that many of my peers get stuck in what they’re doing, and weren’t prepared for how music was changing. And you’ve gotta know it. It was so tough, over the years, to tell an artist who’d had hit after hit after hit that the next record has to be different, because music has changed.
“You’ve got to be astute. I did it, and I still do it, because I love music.”
