Tributes have been cascading in for Clive Davis, one of the great record company men, who died yesterday, aged 94.
Davis’s career stretched from the early 1960s – he joined Columbia Records at the age of 28 – to the 21st Century. He’ll be best known as a nurturer and backer of talent who established close relationships with a number of artists across a wide range of genres. Among those he mentored are Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Carlos Santana and Alicia Keys.
Springsteen has written in an Instagram post: “Over here on E Street, we mourn the death of the great record man and close friend Clive Davis. 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. All our prayers and love.”
Meanwhile, Patti Smith has posted, also on Instagram: "Thanking Clive Davis for transforming music, and on a very personal note, for believing in me, shepherding my efforts and a half century of your love and support."
And Alicia Keys has also paid tribute, saying: “To Clive Davis, the visionary who transformed dreams into reality, leaving an indelible mark on music and lives worldwide.”
Record companies are invariably portrayed (often by disgruntled artists) as being staffed by faceless suits who know nothing about music. Interestingly, Davis once remarked that he had “zero” interest in music before he joined Columbia and clearly learned on the job. "I didn't necessarily have an ear, but I think I developed one," he later said.
It was Davis who decided that the title track should be the lead single from Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water album, much to the duo’s horror. "Yes, it was a ballad; yes, it was lengthy," he said in an interview with the New York Times. "But you've got to know when you have a home run. You can't play everything by the rules."
Davis also once advised Springsteen to step away from the mic when he performed. Talking to People magazine, Davis remembered: "I said, 'Don't do it if it's not natural for you, but I know that the potential of the songs would lend itself to more physical movement on your part,'"
Two weeks later he saw Bruce at a gig in Greenwich: "I was flabbergasted," he said. "He jumped on every table... He was a whirling dervish. It was not just the movement, it was the spirit of it. It was electrifying."
Other inspired Davis moves were adding an a cappella 40 seconds to the beginning of Whitney Houston’s monster hit I Will Always Love You, and persuading Carlos Santana to record an album of duets with contemporary artists: Supernatural sold 15 million and instantly rebooted the guitarist’s career.
If there was a secret to his long-lasting career, it was very simple he said in a 2016 interview with The Talks: trusting in music. “Music is a necessary ingredient in people’s lives. No matter what revolution is occurring in technology, it has to understand that music will not be obsoleted. People need music.”
“It’s a very, very natural basic ingredient that’s essential to the full enjoyment of life.”
