{"id":1796527,"date":"2026-06-22T15:56:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/?p=1796527"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:56:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:56:43","slug":"clive-davis-music-executive-who-signed-whitney-houston-dead-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/clive-davis-music-executive-who-signed-whitney-houston-dead-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"Clive Davis, Music Executive Who Signed Whitney Houston, Dead at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tClive Davis<\/a>, the music executive who founded Arista Records and J Records and helped shape the careers of Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood and many others, died on Monday at his home in New York City. He was 94.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tHis death was confirmed by his longtime rep Aliza Rabinoff, who added in a statement that he \u201cpassed away peacefully from age-related illness \u2026 surrounded by his family and loved ones.\u201d Davis had faced several health issues in recent years. In late May, he was hospitalized in New York City<\/a> following an upper respiratory issue. He was released a few days later, with a rep saying at the time that the music mogul was \u201cin good spirits and happy to be recuperating at home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2021, Davis was diagnosed with Bell\u2019s Palsy, a serious but temporary condition that causes sudden weakness in facial muscles. The diagnosis forced Davis to postpone his famed annual pre-Grammy Gala, which has been held the night before the ceremony every year since 1975.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavis\u2019 legacy in the music business spanned a remarkable seven decades across varying genres of music. After being named president of Columbia Records in 1967 at age 35, Davis scored hits in each successive decade with a diverse group of now-iconic artists including Joplin, Barry Manilow, Houston, the Grateful Dead, The Notorious B.I.G., Keys and Kelly Clarkson. \u201cHe\u2019s the ultimate long-term player,\u201d Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen\u2019s manager, told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 2008. \u201cHe was a label head in the 1960s. He was on top then, and now, 40 years later, is still on top \u2014 that\u2019s remarkable. I do not think you\u2019ll see that happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, Davis\u2019 family wrote, \u201cTo the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives. He discovered, mentored, and championed the greatest artists in modern music history, leaving an indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations. To his family, Clive was Dad and Granddaddy, the steady presence at the center of our lives, the 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

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\n\tActive in the music industry until his death \u2014 most notably hosting an annual pre-Grammy party that often eclipsed the awards show in both attention and spectacle \u2014 Davis, whom Franklin called \u201cthe greatest record man of all time,\u201d developed a reputation during his career as both a tireless champion of artists and a shrewd businessman who expected significant returns on his investment. John Sykes, former president of network development at MTV, once said of Davis, \u201cHe can pick a hit and the next minute tell you the exact number of sales. He\u2019s the only guy who can do that.\u201d Added Keys in 2008: \u201cHe was the first record executive to ever ask what I wanted for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was Davis\u2019 unwavering passion and palpable enthusiasm for music that came through most strongly to his friends and collaborators. \u201cIf I were to draw a picture of Clive, it would be as a little child with a big heart and big ears,\u201d Santana said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s hard to separate the life I\u2019ve lived with my career, with contemporary music,\u201d Davis told Rolling Stone<\/i> in 2017<\/a>. \u201cI consider myself fortunate that over five decades, and in a very tough business environment, music has provided a lifetime of unexpected pleasure and gratification.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in Brooklyn on April 4, 1932, Davis was raised in a Jewish family in the largely middle-class Crown Heights neighborhood by an electrician and salesman father and a stay-at-home mother. By age 18, Davis\u2019s parents had both died within 11 months of each other \u2014 his mother, Florence, of a cerebral hemorrhage, his father, Herman, of a heart attack. \u201cI had been toughened by my parents dying when I was 17, 18, by going through school as an orphan and having to earn everything,\u201d he said. Without financial support, Davis went to NYU on scholarship; upon graduation, he received another scholarship to attend Harvard Law. Struggling financially during this time, he said, instilled in him a tireless work ethic and an endless drive for success. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t keep up at least a B+, I would lose those scholarships,\u201d he recalled of his college years. \u201cI\u2019m always mindful of performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAfter graduating from Harvard, Davis landed a job at the prestigious New York law firm Rosenman, Colin, Kaye, Petschek and Freund. While there, one of his earliest and most time-consuming tasks was reviewing contracts for Columbia Artists Management, a talent agency with no connection to the music company. A lawyer at his firm, Harvey Schein, was hired by CBS and was tasked with setting up its international division. With Davis\u2019 contract experience, Schein recruited him at CBS. In short order, Davis was named head lawyer of the music division.<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresenting the company in a suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission showed Davis the inner workings of the music business. \u201cBecause of it, I started to know not just the contractual side but the retail and distribution side,\u201d he said. He so impressed then-president of Columbia Records, Goddard Lieberson, the executive asked the then-35-year-old to move to the West Coast to head Columbia\u2019s musical instruments division, which oversaw the company that made Fender guitars. Davis didn\u2019t want to uproot his family, however, and he was set to turn down the offer when circumstances changed. Liberson offered him a position as president of CBS Records. Davis accepted. \u201cIt\u2019s amusing,\u201d Davis said of the twist of fate, \u201cbecause it was luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs president of the label, Davis spent roughly 18 months learning the job before he took a fateful trip to San Francisco, in 1967, to meet with Lou Adler, who ran Ode Records and managed the Mamas and the Papas. Adler invited him to the Monterey Pop Festival, where Davis had a life-changing experience. CBS Records had previously focused on artists like Tony Bennett and Jerry Vale, so Davis was taken aback by the fervent passion audiences displayed for up-and-coming rock artists like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. It was a cultural revolution, a social revolution and clearly a musical revolution,\u201d Davis told Rolling Stone <\/em>in 2017. \u201cI knew I was in the midst of something unique and profoundly deep.\u201d Specifically, Joplin performing with Big Brother and the Holding Company deeply affected him. \u201cJoplin was mesmerizing, like a white tornado,\u201d Davis said, and he quickly signed her and Big Brother to his label. \u201cI prepared to unveil the music in mid-\u201968 with a campaign that said [that] this is the new revolutionary sound that will be heard around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cThere was a big fight between the young people and the old people,\u201d said Bruce Lundvall, who worked with Davis at Columbia. \u201cBut when Clive came in, rock and roll was a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Monterey, Clive built Columbia into one of the most successful rock labels in the world, signing, among others, Santana, Laura Nyro, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Johnny Winter, Springsteen, Billy Joel, Herbie Hancock, Earth, Wind and Fire, Pink Floyd and Neil Diamond.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the height of his Columbia success, however, Davis endured one of the most devastating setbacks of his career. In 1973, the United States Attorney in Newark, Jonathan Goldstein, was pursuing a mob case that involved a man who worked for Columbia Records. According to Davis, he forged Clive\u2019s signature, faked invoices, and obtained kickbacks. Despite being caught and fired before the Feds arrested him, the man accused Davis of billing the company for personal items, including a trip to Jamaica, a house in Beverly Hills, and his son\u2019s bar mitzvah at the Plaza Hotel. He accused Davis of payola<\/a>, and acting without thorough investigation, CBS responded by promptly firing him.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavis was ultimately exonerated, but he pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and was forced to pay a $10,000 fine. \u201cThe idea that there was wrongdoing is unfair,\u201d Davis told\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em> in 2008. \u201cI never did charge my son\u2019s bar mitzvah \u2013 it was phony, the guy went to jail, and I was exculpated!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn 1974, Davis took a job as president of the music division of Columbia Pictures, where he was given a 20 percent stake in the company. He changed its name to Arista, the honor society for the overachievers of New York City\u2019s public schools, of which he was a member. He threatened to sue CBS over the wrongful firing, and they responded in kind by giving Arista a mail-order deal worth $1 million. In 1979, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to BMG, which, because of his stake in the company, brought him enormous wealth.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Arista, Davis continued to work with culture-defining artists, signing acts including the Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and Annie Lennox. But he aimed to make it an instant major; one able to compete with his former employer as well as labels including Atlantic Records and RCA. \u201cI was starting, in effect, from scratch,\u201d Davis said. He felt then in order to properly compete, he needed hit songs to present those talented singers who didn\u2019t write. \u201cWhen someone wants to write, I always say the same thing,\u201d Davis said. \u201cCan you write better than the best songs being written? If you can, do it. If not, don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDavis credited Barry Manilow, who recorded a Scott English and Richard Kerr song, renamed it \u201cMandy,\u201d and saw it go to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, as helping set the template for pop success at Arista. \u201cIt was Barry Manilow that enabled and opened up the horizon to sign a Dionne Warwick, to sign the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin, and obviously led to signing Whitney Houston,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

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\n\tHouston, more than any other artist, came to be associated with Davis. \u201cShe had a voice, an innocence, a power and a beauty that was so stunning,\u201d he recalled of first seeing her perform in 1983, at the Shearwater, where she was opening for her cousin Dionne Warwick in her mother Cissy\u2019s act. With Davis\u2019s guidance, Houston, whom he called \u201cthe greatest contemporary singer of all time,\u201d became one of the biggest female recording artists in history, scoring seven consecutive Number One singles and selling more than 50 million records.<\/p>\n

\n\tHouston\u2019s death in 2012 from a drug overdose hit Davis especially hard. \u201cThere was no comprehension on her part or my part that she was flirting with death,\u201d he told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 2013. \u201cAnybody whose life is cut short by the lethal impact of drugs, you feel the tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDavis, who has four children \u2013 including the concert promoter Mitch Davis \u2013 from two marriages, then made it a top priority to get together with them for regular Sunday dinners and found continued success in his later years. In 2000, after BMG forced him out of Arista, he started J Records. In a corporate agreement, Davis was allowed to take 10 artists from Arista: five established artists (except Houston and Santana) and five acts who had not released any music yet.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn a particular prideful moment for Davis, in 2002, BMG bought his stake in J Records for an estimated $20 million; he was subsequently named president and CEO of RCA Music Group.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the mid-2000s, Davis scored hits with Keys, Eddie Vedder, and Usher, resurrected the career of Rod Stewart by encouraging him to sing the American Songbook (\u201cClive was involved to the extent of being too involved,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cHe would take these songs and change keys and not even bother about whether I could sing in that key or not\u201d) <\/b>and he partnered with American Idol<\/i> to release albums from its winners including Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and Fantasia. Davis remained with RCA Label Group until 2008, when he was named chief creative officer for Sony BMG. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2013, he published a memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life<\/i>, in which he came out publicly as bisexual, at the age of 80. In the book, he revealed the first time he had sexual relations with a man was during \u201cthe era of Studio 54,\u201d and the experience prompted a period of \u201csoul-searching and self-analysis.\u201d After separating from his second wife Janet Adelberg in 1985, Davis began dating partners of both sexes and since 1990, both of his long-term relationships have been with men.<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be only one thing or another,\u201d Davis said in an interview with Katie Couric<\/a>. \u201cI opened myself up to the possibility that I could have a relationship with a man as well as the two that I had with a woman.\u201d In a later interview with Nightline<\/i>, Davis stated that bisexuality is \u201cmaligned and misunderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUntil the end, music remained the focal point of Davis\u2019 life. \u201cI still love it today,\u201d Davis, who continued to throw his annual Grammy parties until his death, said in 2017. \u201cI\u2019m immersed in it. I think music is the universal language.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rollingstone.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 O artigo anterior foi obtido e traduzido do site internacional da celebrity.land \u2019 Source Link <\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clive Davis, the music executive who founded Arista Records and J Records and helped shape the careers of Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood and many others, died on Monday at his home in New York City. He was 94. His death was confirmed by his longtime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1796528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1796527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1796527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1796529,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796527\/revisions\/1796529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1796528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1796527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1796527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1796527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}