Douglas J. Davis (born March 6, 1974) is an American music industry executive, entertainment lawyer and

Grammy Award 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 pr ...

-winning record producer.

Early life

Davis was born in New York City, the son of Clive Davis and Janet Adelberg Davis. Davis has three siblings: Fred, Lauren and Mitchell. He attended The Town School and the Dwight School in New York. Davis graduated from The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University with a degree in political science, and from

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test t ...

with a Juris Doctor.Rabhan, Jeff (2013). "Cool Jobs In The Music Business". inTune/Hal Leonard.

Career

Davis is the founder and managing partner of The Davis Firm, PLLC, a music, entertainment and sports law firm. He is the executive producer of the annual Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala. Davis produced original music for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

(under the pseudonym, "def rebel"),

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

and Paramount Pictures. Davis was a licensed NBA player agent who negotiated

Metta World Peace Metta Sandiford-Artest (born Ronald William Artest Jr.; November 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. He was known as Ron Artest before legally changing his name to Metta World Peace in 2011 and later to Metta Sandifor ...

's agreement with the New York Knicks. In 2015, Davis, along with

Roger Gastman Roger Gastman (born 1977 in Canton, Ohio) is an art dealer, curator, filmmaker, and publisher who focuses on graffiti and street art. Career In 1997, Gastman began his career in graffiti culture by selling aerosol paint tips and creating the graf ...

, co-curated Work In Progress, an art gallery and marketplace event in Los Angeles. In 2014–2015, Davis pursued the purchase of the NBA's

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

basketball team. Davis served as a producer of '' American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom'' by

John Daversa John Daversa is an American jazz trumpeter, electronic valve instrument (EVI) player, composer, arranger, conductor, bandleader, producer and educator. Early life Daversa is the son of Jay Daversa, trumpeter for Stan Kenton and Los Angeles stu ...

Big Band Featuring 53

DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a ...

recipients, which was released in September 2018. The project received bipartisan support through endorsements from Nancy Pelosi,

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

and

Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee on ...

. The album won three Grammys:

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album The Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album has been presented since 1961. From 1962 to 1971 and 1979 to 1991 the award title specified instrumental performances. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works ...

; Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella; and Best Improvised Jazz Solo. In 2019, Davis served as a producer of ''Shoulder to Shoulder: A Centennial Tribute to Women's Suffrage'' by The

Karrin Allyson Karrin Allyson (pronounced ''KAR-in''; born Karrin Allyson Schoonover on July 27, 1963) is an American jazz vocalist. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including the ...

Sextet, and '' The Omni American Book Club'' by the Brian Lynch Big Band which won the 2019

Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album The Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album has been presented since 1961. From 1962 to 1971 and 1979 to 1991 the award title specified instrumental performances. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works ...

. Davis served as executive producer of the Aretha Franklin memorial concert and TV special ''Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul'', which aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. In 2021, Davis produced New York's "We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert" in Central Park’s Great Lawn for an estimated 60,000 people and global TV event broadcast by

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

in 200 countries and featured the performances of

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fr ...

, the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

, LL Cool J,

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

, Carlos Santana featuring Rob Thomas and others, which celebrated the city's emergence from the pandemic.

Philanthropy

Davis sits on boards of the

Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music 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 ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

and Fuck Cancer. Davis serves on the entertainment committee for the annual

Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) is a charitable organization dedicated to multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. The MMRF runs as if it were a for-profit business, expecting high returns from the money the organization rais ...

Gala and has chaired fundraising events for the

Drug Policy Alliance The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...

and

City of Hope National Medical Center City of Hope is a private, not-for-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate school located in Duarte, California, United States. The center's main campus resides on of land adjacent to the boundaries of Duarte and Irwindale, with ...

. Davis was a founding board member of the Forum on Law, Culture & Society, a position he held for ten years. In 2016, '' Billboard'' magazine named Davis to its list of top philanthropists in music.

Recognition

Davis appeared in Jeff Rabhan's book "Cool Jobs In The Music Business". In 2012

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

called Davis's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

(@DJD) one of the "Top 5 Music Power" accounts. Since 2016, '' Billboard'' magazine has annually listed Davis one of the "top power lawyers" in music, since 2017 Best Lawyers in America has recognized Davis for Entertainment Law – Music. Since 2018 Variety has named Davis in its Legal Impact issue and in 2019 Davis was profiled by Super Lawyers for Entertainment & Sports. In 2018, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' named Davis Lawyer of the Year at its annual Power Of Law event. In 2020, the

UJA-Federation of New York UJA-Federation of New York ( United Jewish Appeal⁣ – ⁣Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, Inc.) is the largest local philanthropy in the world. Headquartered in New York City, the organization raises and allocates funds annuall ...

named Davis its "Music Visionary of the Year."

Personal life

Davis lives in New York City with stylist wife Jessie Davis and their daughters Billie and Cody in a townhouse originally built for

Clement Clarke Moore Clement Clarke Moore (July 15, 1779 – July 10, 1863) was an American writer, scholar and real estate developer. He is best known as author of the Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore was Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature ...

. In 2007, during an emergency appendectomy, Davis was found to have a

carcinoid A carcinoid (also carcinoid tumor) is a slow-growing type of neuroendocrine tumor originating in the cells of the neuroendocrine system. In some cases, metastasis may occur. Carcinoid tumors of the midgut (jejunum, ileum, appendix, and cecum) ...

tumor. Davis described the moment as one of dumb luck which could have led to a terminal condition that became an awakening and the impetus for his philanthropic work.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Doug Grammy Award winners 1974 births A&R people American music industry executives American entertainment lawyers Jewish American attorneys Living people Philanthropists from New York (state) Businesspeople from New York City Record producers from New York (state) People from New York City Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumni Fordham University School of Law alumni 21st-century American Jews