Clive Davis Dead At 94

Clive Davis, one of the most successful, influential, and recognizable music executives of all time, has died at the age of 94. Over the course of his legendary career, Davis signed artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel to Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys, and he founded the labels Arista and J. In 2000, Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, and that same year, he received a Grammy Trustees Award.

Born April 4, 1932, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Davis lost both of his parents as a teenager. Nevertheless, he graduated from New York University in in 1953 and Harvard Law School in 1956. He got his first taste of the music business at Columbia Records, where he started out as general counsel for the label. In 1966, he was made vice president and general manager. The following year, he became president, and he promptly signed Janice Joplin’s group Big Brother and the Holding Company, who would score massive hits like 1968’s “Piece of My Heart.”

Before leaving Columbia in 1973, Davis made more important signings—including Chicago, Aerosmith, Earth, Wind & Fire, and the aforementioned Springsteen and Joel—and he spearheaded a fruitful distribution deal with the songwriting and production duo Gamble & Huff’s Philadelphia International label, a bastion for cutting-edge ’70s soul music.

In 1974, after leaving Columbia, Davis founded Arista Records, where he would have massive success with the likes of Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, Aretha Franklin, Santana, and of course, Whitney Houston. During his tenure with the label, Davis founded Arista Nashville and created a pair joint ventures that would help to define hip-hop and R&B in the ’90s: LeFace Records, a partnership with Babyface and L.A. Reid, and Bad Boy Records, which put him in business with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

And Davis still wasn’t done founding labels and discovering future megastars. In 2000, he launched J Records, which gave the world Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, and a bunch of blockbuster Rod Stewart Great American Songbook albums.

As a producer, Davis won four Grammys, including Album of the Year for Santana’s Supernatural in 2000, Best Pop Vocal Album for Kelly Clarkson’s Breakaway in 2006, and Best R&B Album for Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled debut.

In 2016, Davis spoke to The Talks about his philosophy for succeeding in the music business.

“I’ve always felt that you’ve got to work for it,” he said. “And that continues to this day: you start with a fresh record every time out. I once said to someone, ‘They don’t play your record because you discovered Joplin. You’ve got to earn it with each time out.’ And so over the years, I think that that pretty much has been a mantra.”