Legendary music executive Clive Davis has died at his home in Manhattan at the age of 94.
During his 60-year career, Davis discovered, championed and signed some of the biggest artists in music history, including Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Luther Vandross and Alicia Keys, and groups such as Earth, Wind and Fire, Aerosmith, The Kinks and Bay City Rollers. Whitney Houston, who he discovered as a teenager, went on to become one of the biggest-selling artists of all time, and the pair remained close up until her death in 2012.
Announcing his death on social media, Davis’s family wrote: “To the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives... To his family, Clive was Dad and Granddaddy, the steady presence at the centre of our lives, the source of wisdom, strength, encouragement, and unconditional love.”
Born to Herman and Florence Davis in 1932, Davis grew up in Brooklyn, New York. His father was an electrician and travelling tie salesman, and Davis later said that his mother carried herself with a “regal air”. Named after the English movie star Clive Brook, who starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in the 1932 film Shanghai Express, Davis later said: “Believe me, there were not many kids named Clive in Crown Heights.”
After school, Davis attended NYU on a scholarship – however tragedy struck the family when his mother passed away at the age of 47, followed less than a year later by his father. Davis, who went to live with his married sister Seena in Queens, later recalled: “It made me feel that anything, however cherished and secure, might be taken away from me at any time.”
In spite of the setback, Davis finished his degree in political science and earned a scholarship place at Harvard Law school. After graduating, he quickly found work as a lawyer in New York, working for two different firms before taking up the role as assistant counsel at Columbia Records at the age of 28.
Although he later admitted, “I knew nothing about music,” Davis swiftly rose through the ranks at Columbia, and by 1967 he was named president – a role he held until 1973.
As president, Davis quickly took Columbia in a new direction by embracing the emerging rock scene – and greatly increasing the company’s profits in the process. After seeing her perform at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967, Davis immediately signed Janis Joplin and her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. In the following years, he went on to add Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana and Neil Diamond, among many others, to their roster.
"I didn't necessarily have an ear, but I think I developed one," he later said. "Whether there was a natural ear that was triggered, I don't know the answer to that. But when you see a Joplin or a Springsteen, you know."
Davis’s Columbia career came to a dramatic end in May 1973 when he was fired and hit with a law suit accusing him of using $94,000 (around £71,000) of company funds to pay for private expenses, including home renovations and one of his son’s barmitzvahs. Davis denied the allegations, but his legal troubles didn’t end there, as his name was dragged into an investigation by federal authorities into payola (the illegal practice of bribing commercial radio stations to play a song) and drugs in the music industry.
Undeterred, in 1975 Davis took over the failing Bell label and renamed it Arista. He quickly had success with a number one hit by Barry Manilow (one of the few stars he kept on from Bell), and as the decade progressed, he signed acts including Gil Scott-Heron, Patti Smith and Lou Reed. In 2000, he left Arista and founded J Records, where he launched the careers of acts such as Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 and orchestrated international comebacks for Carlos Santana and Rod Stewart.
Davis remained an influential figure in the music industry up until his death, when he still held the title of chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment. His pre-Grammys party, which he hosted every year from 1976, drew the biggest stars; he earned five Grammy Awards himself and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.
In many ways, Davis’s personal life was no less noteworthy. His two marriages, to Helen Cohen and Janet Adelberg, both ended in divorce, and aged 80 he made headlines when he revealed he was bisexual and had been in a string of relationships with men. Reflecting in his 2013 memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, he wrote: “What is patently clear, is that openness in all areas of life is an important component of happiness and success.”
As news of his death spread, tributes poured in from some music superstars who owed their careers to the mogul. Bruce Springsteen said he mourned the death of “the great record man and close friend,” adding: “At 22 years old, he changed my life when he signed me to Columbia Records. He treated me with the same respect and kindness as a 22-year-old nobody as he did after all my success. A great man.”
Billy Joel said he would “always be grateful” for Davis’s “recognition of the critical importance of songwriting", while in a moving Instagram post, Patti Smith thanked Davis “for transforming music, and on a very personal note, for believing in me, shepherding my efforts and a half century of his love and support.” Barbra Streisand also added to the online eulogies, saying she was “forever grateful” for Davis’s “vision and support”.
Davis is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and his partner, Greg Schriefer. Concluding their statement, his family wrote: “Through every chapter of his remarkable life, family remained Clive’s greatest pride and deepest joy. Today, we celebrate not only a towering figure whose influence changed music forever, but the man who led our family with grace, generosity, and kindness. We will miss him greatly, cherish him always, and carry his love with us for the rest of our lives.”
Clive Davis: born April 4, 1932. Died: June 22, 2026
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