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Music mogul Clive Davis, the celebrated producer and label executive who signed and nurtured genre-defining musicians such as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston<\/a>, died Monday at his home in New York City, according to Davis\u2019 representative Aliza Rabinoff. He was 94.<\/p>\n Davis had recently been hospitalized with an upper respiratory infection.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives,\u201d his family said in a statement. \u201cHe discovered, mentored and championed the greatest artists in modern music history, leaving an indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations.<\/p>\n \u201cTo his family, Clive was Dad and Granddaddy, the steady presence at the center of our lives, the source of wisdom, strength, encouragement and unconditional love. No matter how extraordinary his professional accomplishments, he never lost sight of what mattered most: the people he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n Known for an unfailing ear for innovative music and an innate ability to navigate the shifting currents of popular music, Davis ruled Columbia, Arista and J Records. He most recently served as the chief creative officer for Sony Music Entertainment. <\/p>\n The Grammy Award-winning producer\u2019s career spanned six decades and was marked with both success and turbulence as he developed an astonishing stable of talent, with Rod Stewart, TLC, Carlos Santana, Aretha Franklin<\/a>, Barry Manilow, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera among others. He also co-founded Bad Boy Records with Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, home to hip-hop artists such as the Notorious B.I.G.<\/a><\/p>\n Admirers said the veteran producer\u2019s longevity as a high-profile record company chief was due largely to his knack for matching artists with can\u2019t-miss songs, which often soared up the charts and raked in Grammy nominations by the armful. His annual pre-Grammy party was a not-to-be-missed industry event, even when it went virtual amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.<\/p>\n Davis\u2019 driving goal was \u201cto find a song that fits naturally, so there\u2019s no sense of artificiality when they sing it,\u201d he told The Times<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n Born April 4, 1932, in Brooklyn, Davis\u2019 parents died when he was still a teen and he moved in with a sister. He received full scholarships to New York University and Harvard Law School and graduated with honors from both. He began his professional career as a corporate lawyer working with CBS Records and was eventually recruited into the label\u2019s executive offices.<\/p>\n The label was then home to a young Bob Dylan, who tangled with Davis when the young folk singer pushed to include a song called \u201cTalking John Birch Society Blues\u201d on his 1963 album \u201cThe Freewheelin\u2019 Bob Dylan.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis, as Columbia\u2019s general counsel, felt certain lines in the protest song were libelous and told the infuriated songwriter that it wouldn\u2019t make it onto the record, he wrote in one of his two memoirs. Though furious, Dylan relented.<\/p>\n Davis credited attending the Monterey Pop Festival<\/a> \u2014 the 1967 seminal music festival that featured adventuresome acts such as the Who, Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane \u2014 for opening his eyes to the emerging psychedelic music scene. He also credited the festival for bringing him in contact with Joplin, who then was the lead singer of the rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. It was his first \u2014 and likely his best, he said repeatedly \u2014 signing.<\/p>\n During his reign at Columbia\/CBS, the company threw open its doors to rock and folk music, issuing early albums from Springsteen, Santana, Aerosmith, Laura Nyro and Billy Joel.<\/p>\n When Springsteen turned in the first recording of his debut album, \u201cGreetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,\u201d Davis asked him if he could come up with some additional material because he didn\u2019t hear any potential hits.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to the beach and wrote \u2018Blinded by the Light\u2019 and \u2018Spirit in the Night,\u2019\u201d Springsteen said later. \u201cThat was a good call. They ended up being two of my favorite songs on the record.\u201d<\/p>\n But Davis\u2019 penchant for spending lavishly caught up with him and he was pushed out of CBS amid accusations that he used company money for his son\u2019s bar mitzvah and other personal expenses \u2014 charges that were never proven. He quickly founded Arista Records where his winning streak of mainstream hits continued. <\/p>\n Clive Davis in 2016<\/p>\n (Kirk McKoy \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n After signing a 19-year-old Houston, she became one of the most successful female vocalists in recording history. In 1999, he spearheaded Santana\u2019s 1999 comeback album, \u201cSupernatural,\u201d returning the guitarist to contemporary pop radio and winning eight Grammys in the process. <\/p>\n His Midas touch was questioned however when the German R&B duo Milli Vanilli<\/a> achieved international success and a Grammy only to tumble into infamy when it was discovered that neither of the group\u2019s members sang vocals on their music. The duo was later stripped of their Grammy. Davis insisted he was unaware of the deception.<\/p>\n Despite his successes, Davis was forced out of Arista in 2000, officially because at 71 he was past retirement age. But he didn\u2019t let up, creating J Records, a subsidiary of BMG, and scored hits with artists such as Alicia Keys and Busta Rhymes. Four years later, he was named chief executive of BMG North America, which included control of Arista.<\/p>\n He worked closely with several \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d winners and runners-up at the peak of the singing competition\u2019s popularity, including Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard. In 2007, he openly feuded with original \u201cIdol\u201d winner Kelly Clarkson over creative control of her second album. He publicly apologized but insisted the album could have been far better.<\/p>\n In 2009, Davis performed another feat by returning a slumping Houston to the top of the charts with the comeback album, \u201cI Look to You,\u201d debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The singer, who was slated to attend his annual pre-Grammy bash, drowned <\/a>in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton the night before the event. Toxicology tests later revealed there was cocaine and other drugs in her system.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a while, I did believe that she had stopped drugs,\u201d Davis said of Houston\u2019s final years, devoting much of his second memoir to the pop titan. She visited him at home in L.A. just before she died and he came away believing she was clean and primed to mount a comeback. \u201cThere was no comprehension on her part or my part that she was flirting with death.\u201d<\/p>\n As a producer, Davis notched five Grammy Awards, two with Santana, one with Clarkson and one with Jennifer Hudson, but shepherded several nominations and wins for artists. He also received the Grammy Trustees Award in 2000 and the President\u2019s Merit Award in 2009. <\/p>\n