The music industry mogul, who helped propel the careers of Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen, had been hospitalized with a respiratory illness in the weeks before his death.
Clive Davis talks Whitney Houston biopic, HER, Grammys and more
Music mogul Clive Davis talks with USA TODAY’s Patrick Ryan about hosting the second part of this weekend’s Grammy Awards.
“Let’s enjoy this!”, USA TODAY
Clive Davis, one of the most influential recording moguls in music history and a driving force behind the careers of Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Earth, Wind & Fire, Alicia Keys and dozens of other artists, has died.
His family confirmed his death to the New York Times. A representative for Davis told Rolling Stone that Davis “passed away peacefully due to age-related illness” surrounded by family and loved ones. He had recently been hospitalized with an upper respiratory tract infection.
With his ubiquitous tinted glasses, thick Brooklyn accent, and ungainly suits, Davis presented the image of an industry titan for seven decades.
He’s also beloved by artists: “He’s like family to us,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s Verdine White told USA TODAY in 2021. And he maintained an unwavering love for the music industry deep into his career.
“By chance, I discovered the role that music played in my life and it became a natural part of me, and I realized that I had a natural talent for discovering artists,” Davis told USA TODAY in 2022, just before his 90th birthday. “Everyone faces challenges, but the importance of work ethic, the importance of maintaining standards of excellence, I feel like that has been a part of my life.”
Manilow, whose career was ignited by Davis’ 1974 song “Mandy,” which he introduced as a rock track titled “Brandy,” says that initial experience led to a more than 50-year relationship with Davis both professionally and as friends.
“When I played the version where I changed the vocals and piano to ‘Mandy’ in one shot and then added the strings and horns and drums, that was a big moment for Clive to understand my strengths,” Manilow told USA TODAY in 2026. “We’ve had a lot of arguments over the years, but we respect each other. We had a decent relationship when it came to music, and it’s gotten even better since then.” Friends. ”
Even as he grew older, Davis remained deeply involved in selecting talent for the annual Pre-Grammy Gala. A few days before the show, he was sitting in his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California poring over comments for that year’s event and talking excitedly about the newcomers he had chosen to perform with the legends.
“It doesn’t matter, I still want To be part of the (industry), I just morning. And I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he told USA TODAY in an interview in a hotel suite in 2024.
Clive Davis promoted from lawyer to record label promoter
Clive Jay Davis was born on April 4, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. After his parents died when Davis was a teenager, he moved to Queens, New York to live with his sister.
His academic endeavors led him first to New York University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he earned a degree in political science, and then to Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1956 on a full scholarship.
Davis began his career as a lawyer, not as a music promoter. In 1960, Davis joined the legal department of Columbia Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records, as a contract attorney. His business acumen, including his successful renegotiation of Bob Dylan’s contract, caught the attention of CBS Records head Goddard Lieberson, who appointed Davis as president of Columbia Records in 1967.
Over the years, Davis has discovered musical talent that has gone on to become groundbreaking artists, including Janis Joplin, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Chicago, Pink Floyd, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Aerosmith. These are just a few of his discoveries.
Davis’ ability to pinpoint talent was often associated with a nose for commercial success and an ear for hits.
“If it wasn’t for Clive and Columbia Records in 1972, Earth, Wind & Fire as you know it today wouldn’t be at this level,” the band’s Ralph Johnson told USA TODAY in 2026. “He had a vision, and his vision in conjunction with[band founder]Maurice White’s vision made it happen. It was one of the best relationships ever.”
But despite his innate star-making talent, Davis’ early career was tainted by scandal.
In 1973, Davis was fired from CBS/Columbia after a government investigation into accounting fraud in the recording industry found that he had been using company money for personal expenses. According to the New York Times, the civil suit against Mr. Davis accuses him of illegally spending about $94,000 in company funds on things such as his son’s bar mitzvah at the Plaza Hotel and renovations to his Central Park West apartment.
Davis denied the charges and was acquitted by a judge in the tax evasion case three years later, after pleading guilty to failing to report $8,800 in income on his 1972 federal tax return.
A 1976 New York Times article notes that a judge said Davis was “the victim of ‘bad publicity’ that falsely linked him to payola charges and organized crime in the recording industry. The only charge against him was tax evasion.”
Clive Davis leads Arista Records to great success with Manilow and Springsteen
By that time, Davis had been named president of Columbia Pictures’ Records and Music division, which consolidated the company’s various labels into Arista Records.
Davis enjoyed great success while at the helm of Arista from 1974 to 2000. Three months after founding the company, Manilow became a household name on light rock radio with the No. 1 hit “Mandy.” Throughout the 1970s, Davis discovered or guided the careers of artists from Carly Simon to Bruce Springsteen to the Grateful Dead, who sometimes changed the lyrics to “Jack Straw” in concert to read, “Once upon a time we played for acid, now we play for Clive.”
Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir spoke about Davis to USA TODAY in 2022. “He was older than us, so we had to take[his advice]seriously. He knows art when he hears it. So those lyrics were kind of cynical, but we never meant it to be disrespectful.”
From 1979 onwards, Davis guided Aretha Franklin’s career, telling Billboard in 2016, “Aretha remains one of the all-time hits that resonates today.”
Clive Davis’ discovery of Whitney Houston was one of his greatest achievements.
One of Davis’ most monumental discoveries was Whitney Houston. The two had a close working relationship throughout her career, but even he was unable to successfully intervene to curb her drug use, as Davis wrote in her 2013 memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life.
After Houston missed her acting opportunity at the 2000 Oscars, Davis told the troubled songstress that she needed to go to rehab. “She told me, flatly but politely but in no uncertain terms, that whatever was going on with her was personal and within her control. … She was in complete denial,” he writes.
Houston died in February 2012, hours before the Pre-Grammy Gala, a storied tradition that Davis started in 1976, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
Davis co-produced the 2022 Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” which he told USA TODAY was one of his “most meaningful” projects. Davis was played in the film by Stanley Tucci.
Along with discovering Houston’s talent in 1983, Davis weeded out other radio staples of the ’80s and ’90s, including the Thompson Twins, Taylor Dayne, and Ace of Base, before expanding the Arista empire.
In the late ’80s, he partnered with L.A. Reid and Babyface to form subsidiary LaFace Records, which boasted a roster featuring TLC, Toni Braxton, Usher, Outkast, and Pink, and in the mid-’90s, he partnered with Sean “Puffy” Combs to found Bad Boy Records, which launched the careers of Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, and Combs.
Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, the same year he left Arista. After learning that his bosses at BMG Entertainment were reportedly planning to replace him with Reed, which was carried out, Davis resigned and founded J Records later that year.
Under his guidance, J Records ignited the careers of Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, and Maroon 5 through a joint venture with Octone Records.
“I’ll never forget meeting Clive,” Keys told People magazine in 2016. “I remember him really appreciating and congratulating me on the fact that I was an artist. And I remember feeling so inspired.” “(He) knew that if people could look to me, if they could see what he saw, they would see what he saw.”
Davis’ nearly 600-page memoir chronicles vivid behind-the-scenes stories, including Janis Joplin’s various offers to complete her record deal, Manilow’s outrage over the recording of “I Write the Songs,” and losing out on contracts with Elvis Costello and Meat Loaf.
In 2017, a complementary documentary, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, was released.
Davis, who has been married twice and is the father of four children, also revealed in his book that he is bisexual.
He spoke at length about his sexual fluidity in a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone.
“I had embraced bisexuality, which is the most misunderstood term in sexual identity. I never felt that it was understood by many in the straight or gay community. You had to be either gay or straight, there was no in-between. I just opened myself to the person, not the gender,” he told the magazine.
Why Clive Davis was the quintessential New Yorker
In August 2021, Davis spearheaded We Love New York: The Homecoming Concert, an all-star gathering in Central Park to celebrate New York City’s reopening after more than a year of disruption due to the pandemic.
Davis assembled a strong lineup that included Bruce Springsteen, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jennifer Hudson, The Killers and Paul Simon, but a severe thunderstorm silenced the show before many of the top names could perform.
Still, it was a fitting inclusion in Davis’ legendary career. Because, regardless of his worldly achievements, his heart always remained in his hometown.
“I am so thankful for New York. I was born, raised, and educated in New York City. My PS161 elementary school, Erasmus Hall High School (both in Brooklyn), and New York University established my work ethic and grounded me in a top-notch education that became the backbone of my career,” Davis told USA TODAY in 2021. Thank you New York City. ”
