Clive Davis

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Lore & Background

Davis is credited with bringing Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow to prominent stature as artists. He was made aware of Cissy Houston's daughter Whitney Houston 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. Davis signed many artists who achieved significant success, including Pink Floyd; Sly and the Family Stone; Janis Joplin; Laura Nyro; Santana; Bruce Springsteen; Chicago; Earth, Wind & Fire; Aerosmith; Billy Joel; Donovan; the Bay City Rollers; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Luther Vandross; Loggins and Messina; Ace of Base; Olivia Longott; Westlife; and Gavin DeGraw. Davis is credited with having hired a young recording artist, Tony Orlando, as a music executive for Columbia in 1967, who provided Barry Manilow with his first recording contract a few years later. At Arista, Davis signed Barry Manilow, followed by Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Patti Smith, Westlife, Al Jourgensen, The Outlaws, Eric Carmen, Kenny G, the Bay City Rollers, Exposé, Taylor Dayne, Milli Vanilli, Ace of Base, Air Supply, Ray Parker Jr., Raydio, and Alicia Keys, and he brought Carly Simon, Melissa Manchester, Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Jermaine Stewart, Gil Scott-Heron and Lou Reed to the label. He co-founded Arista Nashville in 1989 with Tim DuBois, which became the home to Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Pam Tillis, and Brad Paisley. Davis founded LaFace Records with L.A. Reid and Babyface. LaFace subsequently became the home of TLC, Usher, Outkast, Pink, and Toni Braxton. Davis assisted Sean "Puffy" Combs with the creation of Bad Boy Records; it became the home of the Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, Combs, Mase, 112, and Faith Evans, although Davis later admitted that he never quite understood rap music. In 1998, Davis signed LFO, who became best known for their 1999 hit single "Summer Girls".

In Their Own Story

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; Bruce Springsteen; Chicago; Billy Joel; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Loggins and Messina; Aerosmith; and Pink Floyd (for rights to release their material outside of Europe). Among the most commercially successful recordings released during Davis's tenure at Columbia was Lynn Anderson's Rose Garden, in late 1970. Davis insisted that "Rose Garden" be the country singer's next single release. The song crossed over and was a No. 1 hit in 16 countries worldwide. "Rose Garden" remained the biggest-selling album by a female country artist for 27 years. In 1972, Davis signed both Earth, Wind & Fire and Aerosmith to Columbia Records. In 1979 Aerosmith mentioned Davis in the song "No Surprize", in which 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 occasionally changed the lyrics of the Dead standard "Jack Straw" 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." A Detroit band, Death, was one of the last bands Davis tried to sign to Columbia Records. A Rolling Stone article dated July 5, 1973, reported that CBS fired Clive Davis "amid allegations of misuse of funds and providing drugs to artists and disk jockeys" as part of an alleged payola scandal. Davis, however, denied that his dismissal was connected in any way to drugs or payola.

Reader's Guide

Clive Davis is the record executive who discovered and developed Whitney Houston's career. He signed her to Arista Records after seeing her perform with her mother Cissy Houston at a New York City nightclub. Under his guidance, Houston became one of the biggest selling artists in music history. Davis was fired from Arista in 2000 and started J Records, an independent label with financial backing from Arista parent Bertelsmann Music Group, named with the middle initial of Davis and his four children. BMG bought a majority stake in J Records in 2002, and Davis became president and CEO of the larger RCA Music Group. His continued success in breaking new artists was recognized by the music industry A&R site HitQuarters when he was named the "world's No.1 A&R of 2001" based on worldwide chart data for the year. In 2004, BMG merged with Sony Music Entertainment to form Sony BMG. 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 held until his death, as part of a corporate restructuring when Sony BMG became Sony Music Entertainment in late 2008 after BMG had sold its shares to Sony. Arista Records and J Records, which were both founded by Davis, were dissolved in October 2011 through the restructuring of RCA Records. All artists under those labels were moved to RCA Records.

Did You Know?

• Davis was born on April 4, 1932, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Jewish parents, Herman and Florence Davis.
• He graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science and Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 from New York University College of Arts & Science, then received a full scholarship to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1956.
• Davis was fired from CBS Records in 1973 for allegedly using company funds to bankroll his son's bar mitzvah.
• In 2013, at the age of 80, Davis publicly came out as bisexual in his autobiography The Soundtrack of My Life.
• Davis died at his home in Manhattan on June 22, 2026, at the age of 94.