AP News53%
Clive Davis, music industry starmaker, has died at 94 55%
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY0% MARIA SHERMAN0%
6/22/2026, 4:11:38 PM
Keywords: Clive Davis, Music Industry, Music Producer, Obituary, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Janis Joplin, Billy Joel, Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Luther Vandross, Neil Diamond, David Foster, Babyface, Michael Buble, Bruce Johnston, Dolly Parton, Simon Fuller, Lou Reed, Greg Schriefer, Aliza Rabinoff, Sean Diddy Combs, California, New York City, New York, Music, Notable Deaths, Entertainment
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Appeal to Emotion, and Negativity Bias, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 41.5% saturation with 333 hits. Analysis detected 1,474 faulty-reasoning hits from 802 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 52.6% and a BS Rank of 55% (10,057 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 54.10% of the article peer group.
NEW YORK (AP) — Clive Davis, the record company lawyer who became one of the music industry’s most powerful figures, launching or resurrecting the careers of such superstars as Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana and Alicia Keys, has died, his family confirmed.
He was 94.
Davis died in his Manhattan apartment, weeks after being hospitalized for an upper respiratory issue, his publicist Aliza Rabinoff said.
“To 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,” the statement read.
Many artists mourned his passing on Monday.
Carlos Santana called him “a visionary.”
Michael Bublé said the music executive “believed in people and their dreams.”
Patti Smith thanked Davis for a half century of “love and support.”
Davis took big swings in the music industry, particularly in his support for Black artists, beginning when he signed Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International Records in 1971.
In 2015, the NAACP recognized Davis for his groundbreaking work by presenting him with the Vanguard Award.
And last summer, Davis was presented with the Apollo Theater’s Apollo Legacy Award and inducted onto its Walk of Fame.
His success stories were staggering, with Houston a crowning achievement and devastating tragedy: Davis signed her to his Arista record label when she was just a teen and turned her into America’s reigning pop princess.
Houston racked up multiple No. 1 hits and became one of the top-selling artists in pop history before drug abuse hobbled her career.
She died in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2012, hours before she was to appear at Davis’ annual pre-Grammy Awards gala.
He had been convinced she was turning her life around.
“Maybe I should have been more skeptical,” Davis wrote in his 2013 memoir, “The Soundtrack of My Life,” “but I’ve always been optimistic, and I felt hopeful.
It felt like old times.”
Davis didn’t always make the right choices; he turned down a chance to sign up Meat Loaf.
And he and his collaborators didn’t always agree.
He and producer David Foster fought bitterly over the arrangement for Houston’s all-time hit, a cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
Davis won that fight — and the song was published with its iconic a cappella intro.
And Manilow strongly objected to recording “I Write the Songs,” noting that he didn’t even write the song, a Bruce Johnston ballad that became a signature hit for Manilow, who would have similar latter-day success mining the music of the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
“He’s just brilliant at picking ideas he thinks the public will connect,” raved Manilow, who had worked with Davis since he was a budding singer at Columbia Records.
Davis also had his struggles.
Though he became president of Columbia Records in 1967 after joining the label in 1960 as a lawyer, by 1973 he was gone in a bitter fallout.
The label accused him of mismanagement of funds and he was fired.
Although Davis says he was later cleared, it wasn’t the end of his problems; he later was indicted on tax evasion charges, pleaded guilty to one count and had to pay a $10,000 fine.
However, Davis would declare victory: He says Columbia gave him the money to start Arista to resolve the dispute, and the label would become a huge success with artists like country superstars Brooks & Dunn, sassy R&B group TLC, Babyface, Houston, Franklin and others.
He also launched the career of multiplatinum, multiple-Grammy winner Keys — and was quick to note other talents he signed, including Joplin and Billy Joel, Blood Sweat & Tears and other “all-timers,” as he so often put it.
His influence grew even more when Davis was tapped for BMG’s U.S. division.
In his memoir, Davis confirmed longtime rumors that he was bisexual and had been living with a man in recent years.
“Do I feel I could have been similarly attracted to a woman?”
Davis wrote.
“The answer is yes.”
He is survived by his four children, sons Fred, Doug and Mitchell, daughter Lauren, and his eight grandchildren Austin, Charlie, Matthew, Hayley, Harper, Sloane, Billie and Cody, two great grandchildren, cousin Jo Schuman and partner Greg Schriefer.
His family shared a loving statement on Monday.
“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.”
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