Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
,
A&R executive,
record executive, and lawyer. He has won five
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
and was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music an ...
as a non-performer, in 2000.
From 1967 to 1973, Davis was the president of
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. He was the founder and president of
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...
from 1974 through 2000 until founding
J Records
J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG’s record labels in late 2008. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...
. From 2002 until April 2008, Davis was the chair and
CEO of the
RCA Music Group
RCA Music Group was an umbrella group of labels distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that existed between March 2004 and 2009, and for a short period of time between July 2011 and October 2011 as all RCA Music Group labels were merged with RCA ...
(which included
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
,
J Records
J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG’s record labels in late 2008. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...
, and
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...
), chair and CEO of J Records, and chair and CEO of
BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations
* Music publishing companies:
** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
*** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...
North America.
Davis is credited with hiring a young recording artist,
Tony Orlando, for Columbia in 1967. He has signed many artists that achieved significant success, including
Sly and the Family Stone;
Janis Joplin;
Laura Nyro;
Santana;
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
;
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
;
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the " Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...
;
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world musi ...
;
Bay City Rollers;
Blood, Sweat & Tears;
Loggins & Messina;
Ace of Base;
Aerosmith;
Olivia Longott;
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
; and
Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporari ...
. Davis is also credited with bringing
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...
and
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...
to prominence.
As of 2018, Davis is the
chief creative officer of
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...
.
Early life and education
Davis was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
, New York City, to a
Jewish family,
the son of Herman and Florence Davis. His father was an electrician and salesman.
Davis was raised in
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New Yo ...
.
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 in
Bayside, Queens, New York City.
He attended
New York University College of Arts and Science, where he graduated
''
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
'', with a degree in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
and
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
in 1953. He received a full scholarship to
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
, where he was a member of the
Board of Student Advisers
The Ames Moot Court Competition is the annual upper level moot court competition at Harvard Law School. It is designed and administered by the HLS Board of Student Advisers and has been in existence since 1911, when it was founded by a bequest in ...
and graduated in 1956.
Career
Columbia/CBS Records years
Davis practiced law in a small firm in New York, then moved on to the firm of
Rosenman, Colin, Kaye, Petschek, and Freund two years later, where partner Ralph Colin had
CBS as a client. Davis was subsequently hired by a former colleague at the firm, Harvey Schein, to become assistant counsel of CBS subsidiary
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
at age 28, and then general counsel the following year.
As part of a reorganization of Columbia Records Group, group president
Goddard Lieberson appointed Davis as administrative vice president and general manager in 1965. In 1966, CBS formed the Columbia-CBS Group which reorganized CBS's recorded music operations into
CBS Records with Davis heading the new unit.
The next year, Davis was appointed president and became interested in the newest generation of
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk music, folk and rock music, rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the American fo ...
and
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
. One of his earliest pop signings was the British folk-rock musician
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world musi ...
, who enjoyed a string of successful hit singles and albums released in the U.S. on the
Epic Records label. That same year, Davis hired 23-year-old recording artist
Tony Orlando as general manager of Columbia publishing subsidiary April-Blackwood Music; Orlando went on to become vice-president of Columbia/CBS Music and signed
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...
in 1969.
In June 1967, Davis attended the
Monterey Pop Festival after his friends and business associate,
Lou Adler, convinced him. He immediately signed
Janis Joplin with
Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Columbia went on to sign
Laura Nyro;
The Electric Flag;
Santana;
The Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit " Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions w ...
;
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
;
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
;
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the " Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...
;
Blood, Sweat & Tears;
Loggins & Messina;
Aerosmith; and
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
(for rights to release their material outside of Europe). The company, which had previously avoided rock music (its few rock acts prior to the Davis presidency included
Dion DiMucci
Dion Francis DiMucci (born July 18, 1939), better known simply as Dion, is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. His music has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues. Initially as the lead singer of Dion and ...
,
The Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole con ...
,
Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of ...
, and
Paul Revere and the Raiders), doubled its market share in three years.
One of the most commercially successful recordings released during Davis' tenure at Columbia was
Lynn Anderson's ''
Rose Garden'', in late 1970. It was Davis who insisted "Rose Garden" be the country singer's next single release. The song reached No.1 in 16 countries around the world and remained the biggest selling album by a female country artist for 27 years.
In 1972, Davis signed
Earth, Wind & Fire to Columbia Records. One of his most recognized accomplishments was signing the
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
group
Aerosmith to Columbia Records in the early 1970s at New York City's
Max's Kansas City. The accomplishment was mentioned in the 1979 Aerosmith song "No Surprize", where
Steven 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." Starting on December 30, 1978, Bob Weir of
The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, an ...
occasionally changed the lyrics of the Dead standard "
Jack Straw
John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...
" 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."
One of the last bands Davis tried to sign to Columbia Records was the proto-punk band
Death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
. According to
their documentary he was the only person who was interested in a black band doing rock music, but he asked them to change their name. They refused, as the name was a reflection of a personal event. The contract dissolved, and the band released their album on another label 35 years later.
Arista years
After Davis was fired from CBS Records in 1973 for allegedly using company funds to bankroll his son's
bar mitzvah,
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
then hired him to be a consultant for the company's
Bell Records
Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny ...
label. Davis took time out to write his memoirs and then founded
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...
in 1974. The company was named after New York City's secondary school honor society, of which Davis was a member.
At Arista, Davis signed
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...
, followed by
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
,
Dionne Warwick
Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...
,
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946)
is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''.
Called the "punk poet ...
,
Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporari ...
,
Al Jourgensen,
The Outlaws,
Eric Carmen,
The Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity in the 1970s. They have been called the "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh" and one of many acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Bea ...
,
Exposé,
Taylor Dayne,
Ace of Base,
The Right Profile,
Air Supply
Air Supply is a soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975. It consists of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight top-five h ...
,
Ray Parker Jr. and
Raydio
Raydio is an American funk and R&B vocal group formed in 1977 by Ray Parker Jr., with Vincent Bonham, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael.
Career 1970s and Raydio
After securing a record deal, the group scored their first big hit in early 1978 ...
, and
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Colu ...
, and he brought
Carly Simon,
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
,
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...
,
Jermaine Stewart,
Gil Scott-Heron (on whose episode of
TV One's ''
Unsung'' Davis was interviewed) and
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
to the label. He co-founded Arista Nashville in 1989 with
Tim DuBois
James Timothy DuBois (born May 4, 1948 is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Nashville-based songwriter and recording industry executive who has headed both Arista Records (Nashville Division) and Universal South Records. As a songwrit ...
, which became the home to
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as " neotraditional country"), as well as penning man ...
,
Brooks & Dunn,
Pam Tillis
Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful ...
, and
Brad Paisley
Bradley Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album '' Who Needs Pictures'', he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nash ...
.
Davis founded
LaFace Records
LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achiev ...
with
L.A. Reid and
Babyface. LaFace subsequently became the home of
TLC,
Usher
Usher may refer to:
Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place:
* Usher (occupation)
** Church usher
** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony
** Fiel ...
,
Outkast,
Pink
Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...
and
Toni Braxton
Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won ...
. He founded Bad Boy Records with
Sean "Puffy" Combs and it became the home of the
Notorious B.I.G., Combs,
Mase,
112, and
Faith Evans, although Davis would later admit that he never quite understood
rap music
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
. In 1998, Davis signed
LFO from European Success. LFO charted #3 with "
Summer Girls" in 1999, and went on to multiplatinum success.
During the Arista years, he set up his own production company Clive Davis Entertainment, for a two-year first-look agreement with movie studio
Tri-Star Pictures in 1987.
Davis was made aware of
Cissy Houston's daughter
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...
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.
J Records, RCA, Sony years
Davis left Arista in 2000 and started
J Records
J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG’s record labels in late 2008. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...
, an independent label with financial backing from Arista parent
Bertelsmann Music Group
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...
, named with the middle initial of Davis and his four children. BMG would buy a majority stake in J Records in 2002, and Davis would become president and CEO of the larger
RCA Music Group
RCA Music Group was an umbrella group of labels distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that existed between March 2004 and 2009, and for a short period of time between July 2011 and October 2011 as all RCA Music Group labels were merged with RCA ...
.
Davis' continued success in breaking new artists was recognised by the music industry A&R site
HitQuarters
HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...
when the executive was named "world's No.1 A&R of 2001" based on worldwide chart data for that year.
In 2004, BMG merged with
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...
to form
Sony BMG
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyou ...
. 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,
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.
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...
and J Records, which were both founded by Davis, were dissolved in October 2011 through the restructuring of
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
. All artists under those labels were moved to RCA Records.
Awards and honors
As a producer, Davis has won five
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
.
Davis also received the
Grammy Trustees Award in 2000
and the President's Merit Award at the
2009 Grammys.
In 2011, the 200-seat theater at the
Grammy Museum was named the "Clive Davis Theater".
In 2000, Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the
non-performers category.
In 2000, Davis received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...
.
In 2015, he was recognized by Equality Forum as one of the 31 Icons of the
LGBT History Month.
Davis was a 2018 Honoree a
The New Jewish Home'sEight Over Eighty Gala.
An alumnus of New York University, Davis is a significant benefactor to it. The recorded music division of its
Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
, is named after him: the
Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Davis was portrayed by
Oscar nominated actor,
Stanley Tucci, in Sony Pictures
I Wanna Dance with Somebody – a biopic about the life and music of Whitney Houston. Davis also serves as a producer on the film.
Personal life
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, Lauren (born 1962), an entertainment attorney and Arts Professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Mitchell (born 1970), and
Doug Davis (born 1974), a music executive and Grammy award-winning record producer. Davis has eight grandchildren.
In 2013, Davis publicly came out as
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...
in his autobiography ''The Soundtrack of My Life''. On the daytime talk show ''
Katie
Katie is an English feminine name. It is a form Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own.
People Sports
* Katie Boulter (born 1996), British tennis player
* Katie Clark (born 1994), B ...
'', he told host
Katie Couric
Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, ...
that he hoped his coming out would lead to "greater understanding" of bisexuality.
Further reading
*Davis, Clive (1975). ''Clive: Inside the Record Business'', William Morrow & Company, Inc.
*Davis, Clive (2013). ''The Soundtrack of My Life'',
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Clive
1932 births
Living people
A&R people
American chief executives
20th-century American Jews
American memoirists
American music industry executives
Arista Records
Bisexual men
Columbia Records
Erasmus Hall High School alumni
Grammy Award winners
Harvard Law School alumni
LGBT businesspeople from the United States
LGBT Jews
LGBT memoirists
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT record producers
Record producers from New York (state)
New York University alumni
Sony Music
World Music Awards winners
21st-century American Jews