Topline
Clive Davis, the legendary music mogul who died at age 94 on Monday, spent his decades-long career as one of the industry’s most powerful record label executives cultivating the careers of iconic musicians, including billionaire Bruce Springsteen and the late Whitney Houston.
Clive Davis with Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow, two of his biggest artists. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
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Key Facts
Davis signed Springsteen, who would later become one of the world’s wealthiest musicians (with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion), to Columbia Records in 1972, saying in a 2013 interview he was initially impressed with Springsteen’s lyrics but did not expect him to become “a rock-and-roll performer second to none.”
Houston, who placed on Forbes’ list of the highest-paid deceased celebrities in 2024, was one of Davis’ most famous discoveries, earning a record deal with his Arista Records in 1983 at 19 years old, and Davis mentored her throughout her career as she became known as one of the industry’s most iconic voices.
Davis was credited with revitalizing Aretha Franklin’s career after signing her to Arista in 1980, and he later recalled her asking him, “Could I have hits again?”
One of Davis’ earliest hits on his Arista label, a rebranding of the Bell Records label he took over in 1974, was “Mandy” by Barry Manilow, which became Manilow’s first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Many successful artists signed to Davis’ Arista label, including Lou Reed, the Grateful Dead, Patti Smith and Dionne Warwick.
In 2000, Davis founded J Records, which helped launch the careers of some of the biggest artists of the 2000s, including Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson.
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Davis died at age 94 on Monday, his family confirmed. On Davis’ official Instagram account, his family honored him as an “iconic music legend” whose ear for talent “shaped the soundtrack of countless lives.” Davis had been hospitalized earlier this month for an upper respiratory issue.
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4. That’s how many competitive Grammy Awards Davis won, on all of which he was credited as a producer. He won his first pair of Grammys in 2000, winning the most coveted prize—Album of the Year—and Best Rock Album for “Supernatural” by the rock group Santana, whose career he was credited with revitalizing after he signed them to Arista Records in the 1990s. Davis also won Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Album for Clarkson’s “Breakaway” in 2006 and Best R&B Album for Hudson’s self-titled album in 2009. He won the Recording Academy’s Trustees Award in 2000, an honorary award given to individuals who have made “significant contributions, other than performance,” to music. Davis received additional Grammy nominations for music by Houston, Manilow and Leona Lewis.
key background
Davis, born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1932, started his career as a lawyer at a small firm before practicing in-house at Columbia Records, where he rose through the ranks to become the label’s president in 1967. That year, he attended the Monterey Pop Festival, where he watched the Janis Joplin-fronted Big Brother and the Holding Company, which Davis later said made his “spine tingle, my arms vibrate,” realizing rock music would be “the future.” Joplin became one of the first discoveries he made while leading Columbia, though he was ousted in 1973 for allegedly misappropriating $94,000 of label funds for personal expenses. Davis was then hired by Bell Records, which he rebranded to Arista—and today is still a label under Sony Music Entertainment—where he built a lengthy and diverse roster of artists. BMG Music, Arista’s parent company, replaced Davis for a younger leader, after which he threatened to leave instead of taking a secondary role. BMG then offered to invest in a new label headed by Davis, leading him to launch J Records in 2000. Until his death, Davis served as the chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment.
further reading
11 Essential Songs Shepherded by Clive Davis (New York Times)