Clive Davis, Music-Industry Legend, Dead at 94

Clive Davis, the behind-the-scenes music-industry impresario who shepherded the careers of Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and more, is dead at 94. His family confirmed his death to the New York Times. Although the cause of death has not been confirmed, he had recently been hospitalized for respiratory problems.

A Jewish man raised in Crown Heights, Davis began his music career as assistant legal counsel at CBS Records 1960 at age 28. He was spotted by Columbia head Goddard Lieberson after forcing an unwilling Bob Dylan to renegotiate his contract, and by 1967, he was president of Columbia. After attending the Monterey Pop Festival that year, he realized the power of rock and roll and signed multiple rock acts to the label, soon developing a roster that included Santana, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Joel. He was, however, fired by CBS after being investigated for fraud. He then started his own label, Arista, at Columbia Records and signed Barry Manilow, the Grateful Dead, and Patti Smith. 

Davis is perhaps best known for being the man who initially signed Whitney Houston and worked with the singer to make her the biggest singer in the world at the time. He introduced her to the world in 1983 on The Merv Griffin Show. As the world of music continued to change in the back half of the 20th century, he continued to prosper by making deals between Arista and young executives like L.A. Reid and Sean Combs, working with them to debut artists including TLC, OutKast, Notorious B.I.G., and Faith Evans. At the turn of the century, his parent company BMG attempted to force him out, but Davis had the support of artists including Franklin and Springsteen. The company ended up financing the start of his new label, J Records, where he helped break Kelly Clarkson. In 2013, he came out as bisexual in his autobiography, The Soundtrack of My Life.