lit a candle 2 Sept 2026A light in the dark
Some people leave a mark on the world that doesn't fade. Clive was one of them.
Their story
Clive Jay Davis, born on 4 April 1932 and died on 22 June 2026, spent his working life in American music, first as a lawyer and then as one of the industry's most influential executives, an A&R man and a record producer. Along the way he collected four Grammy Awards,…
Clive Jay Davis, born on 4 April 1932 and died on 22 June 2026, spent his working life in American music, first as a lawyer and then as one of the industry's most influential executives, an A&R man and a record producer. Along the way he collected four Grammy Awards, and in 2000 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer.
His career took him through many of the great names in recording. He was president of Columbia Records from 1967 until 1973, then founded Arista Records, which he led as president from 1974 through to 2000, before starting J Records. From 2002 until April 2008 he served as chair and chief executive of the RCA Music Group, which took in RCA Records, J Records and Arista Records, while also acting as chair and chief executive of J Records and of BMG North America.
In 1967 he was credited with taking on a young recording artist, Tony Orlando, as a music executive at Columbia, and it was Orlando who, a few years later, gave Barry Manilow his first recording contract. Davis himself signed an extraordinary run of artists who went on to great success, among them Pink Floyd, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Donovan, the Bay City Rollers, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Luther Vandross, Loggins and Messina, Ace of Base, Olivia Longott, Westlife and Gavin DeGraw. He was credited, too, with lifting both Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow to real stature.
From 2008 until his death in 2026, he was chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), retold in our own words. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
3Clive Davis in his office Sept. 10, 1980
by People Forever
Clive Davis speaks at the Kennedy Center Honors dinner at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Saturday, December 2, 2023. (Official State Department photo
by People Forever
Clive Davis at the 63rd annual New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center in 2025 for the film Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
by People Forever
Beautifully said.