Biography

Clive Davis

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Clive Davis was born in Brooklyn, New York. He entered Harvard Law School on a full scholarship and graduated in 1956. Four years later, he arrived at Columbia Records as an attorney. In 1965, he was promoted to administrative vice-president of the label, became vice-president and general manager a year later, and in 1967 became the label's president. In this capacity he pushed the company full speed ahead into rock music, with artists such as Janis Joplin and Carlos Santana leading the pack. He guided Columbia to tremendous success until 1973, when he was fired after being accused of tax evasion and misusing company funds. In 1974, he took over the record division of Columbia Pictures and launched his own label, Arista, famous for such acts as Barry Manilow and Whitney Houston. Davis was forced out of Arista by parent company BMG in 2000, but not long thereafter started a new label, J, to be distributed by BMG.
- IMDb mini biography by: W.B.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (under the category Non-Performer) (2000).
Signed Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, Chicago, Billy Joel, Blood Sweat & Tears and Bruce Springsteen.
New York City: In his memoir entitled "The Soundtrack of My Life", released this month at age 80, Davis revealed he is bisexual. He also embroiled himself in a rather duel with Kelly Clarkson over his role in pushing her hit song "Since U Been Gone".
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1501 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on January 28, 1997.
After a government investigation of the record industry, he was fired as president of CBS Records amid charges of financial irregularities and using company expenses for personal use.

[on Whitney Houston] You wait for a voice like that for a lifetime. You wait for a face like that, a smile like that, a presence like that, for a lifetime. And when one person embodies it all, well, it takes your breath away.
[To Barry Manilow ] If you were Irving Berlin, we would know it by now!
[About Whitney Houston's smoking, and her relationship with Bobby Brown]] [Her smoking] is like leaving a priceless Stradivarius out in the sun . . . I don't believe Bobby caused Whitney's problems, but the two of them brought out the worst in each other.
My "act" was schoolwork. I was your basic, garden-variety, ambitious, upwardly mobile, hard-working Jewish boy from Brooklyn. I was bound to go beyond my parents. It was simply the way things were.

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