The legendary music executive Clive Davis, who has died at age 94, was known for deep, trusting relationships with the artists he represented. It was a mutual respect that allowed him to shape their careers — and them to shape his.
Here’s a look at how Davis worked with some of the varied acts — from the Grateful Dead to Alicia Keys — he shepherded during a six-decade career in the music industry.
Janis Joplin
Davis played an important role in shaping Janis Joplin’s career, but she arguably played an even bigger role in shaping his.
After Davis became president of Columbia Records at age 35, he attended the Monterey Pop festival in California looking for new acts. He saw Big Brother & The Holding Company, featuring Joplin, and faced what he recalled in a 2022 speech as his first major decision as head of the label: “Should I personally sign an artist just based on my gut?” he said.
“I did make that decision, and my life would never be the same,” Davis said.
He persuaded Joplin to release an abbreviated edit of the single “Piece of my Heart,” ensuring it got radio play. Davis also pushed her to leave Big Brother and go solo.
After Joplin’s death in 1970, Davis found her recording of “Me and Bobby McGee” amid the sessions for her album “Pearl,” released posthumously to great acclaim.
Carlos Santana
Davis first signed Santana to Columbia Records in 1968, and the guitarist and singer became known for hits including “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va” — not to mention a legendary performance at Woodstock in 1969.
Decades later, Davis reconnected with Santana, who was looking again for musical relevance.
Davis suggested an album that would feature some of Santana’s original material as well as collaborations with contemporary artists. The result — 1999’s “Supernatural” — included the song “Do You Like the Way” with Lauryn Hill as well as hits “Maria Maria” with Wyclef Jean and “Smooth” with Rob Thomas. The record won eight Grammys, tying a record set by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
In a social media post, Santana said Davis “believed in Santana from the beginning, and years later he believed in us again.”
Bruce Springsteen
Davis signed a 22-year-old Springsteen to Columbia Records in 1972. Davis recalled believing that Springsteen was far more than a Bob Dylan copycat, but that he could be a “poet warrior” and one of the best performers ever.
After Springsteen turned in his debut album, Davis told him to try again: It didn’t have any singles. Springsteen took the advice to heart and wrote two new tracks: “Blinded by the Light,” which was later turned into a hit by Manfred Mann, and “Spirit in the Night.”
In an appearance on the “Late Show” with David Letterman, Davis recalled giving the Boss early advice on his live performance, telling him that when he has a large stage to play on, he should use it rather than just stand still.
“He changed my life when he signed me to Columbia Records,” Springsteen wrote in a social media post.
Whitney Houston
There is no artist Davis was more closely associated with than Whitney Houston. He met her at a New York club called Sweetwater’s, where the 19-year-old was performing with her mother Cissy Houston, a celebrated gospel and soul singer. She sang “The Greatest Love of All,” a song Davis had previously commissioned for the Muhammad Ali movie “The Greatest.”
“As soon as she started singing that song, I was stunned,” Davis recalled in a CNN interview in 2022.
He signed her to Arista in 1983, and the label took a deliberate two years to find the right songs and producers for her debut album, one of the biggest ever. She went on to become the label’s best-selling artist — and one of the most influential singers in history.
Houston’s relationship with Davis was so close that her team insisted on a “key man” clause, giving her the right to leave her contract if Davis ever left Arista.
Davis played a key role in shaping the soundtrack to Houston’s 1992 film “The Bodyguard,” insisting on keeping a minimalistic arrangement and her iconic a capella intro to her transcendant Dolly Parton cover “I Will Always Love You.”
The Grateful Dead
Davis played the long game with the Grateful Dead. He had wanted to sign the band — or at least singer and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia — on Columbia Records since the late 1960s, but the Dead were under contract with rival Warner Bros.
Instead, Davis signed the New Riders of the Purple Sage, a psychedelic country band that featured Garcia. When the Dead were looking for a new major label in the late 1970s, Davis landed them on his recently founded Arista Records.
Late Dead guitarist Bob Weir observed that Davis was “the one suit we weren’t distrustful of.” In concert, he sometimes changed the lyrics to the Dead standard “Jack Straw” from “We used to play for silver, now we play for life” to “We used to play for acid, now we play for Clive.”
Davis took a patient approach to the band’s studio work, telling them they should record only when they were ready to record, author Blair Jackson wrote in his biography of Garcia. The Dead, famously ambivalent about commercial success, eventually repaid him with their biggest hit, 1987’s “Touch of Grey.”
Alicia Keys
Keys was 15 when she signed with Columbia Records in 1996. Creative differences soon emerged, with the label insisting on hiring teams of professionals to work with her. Keys would later recall feeling disrespected.
Davis, who was splitting with Arista, helped get her out of her Columbia contract and eventually signed her to his new label — J Records — in 2000. She played him some of her songs at his office, and he sensed her star power and knew she should have creative control over her songs.
Her debut album — “Songs in A Minor” — was a masterpiece and won five Grammys in 2002. But Davis noted that her music could not be easily categorized, and as a result it was at risk of not getting the airplay it deserved. In a 2002 interview, he recalled calling up Oprah Winfrey and asking her to do a show featuring Keys. Winfrey agreed — and the single “Fallin” took off.
In a social media post, Keys called Davis “the visionary who transformed dreams into reality, leaving an indelible mark on music and lives worldwide.”
Kenny G
There wasn’t much of a market for instrumental music in the early 1980s, but Davis saw the soft jazz saxophonist Kenny G in a club and knew he had something. He signed Kenny G to Arista in 1982, and he went on to become the best-selling instrumental artist of all time.
In an interview with CNN on Monday, Kenny G — as he often has — credited Davis with his success. Davis, he said, knew when to let the artist steer the ship and when to step in with direction. With Kenny G, that meant not telling him how a sax solo should go, but participating by finding singers, such as Michael Bolton, to pair with him.
“I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for him taking chances on me,” he said.
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