![\"Davis](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/clive-davis-cr-Daniel-Prakopcyk-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=237&h=147&crop=1\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/barry-manilow-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=300\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\tI met Clive in 1974 when he took over Bell Records, the label I was on. He decided to keep three of us on his new label. He kept Melissa Manchester, me and of course\u2026 the Bay City Rollers. A few weeks after Bell Records became Arista, I got a phone call from Clive. He told me that he had a song that he thought I should consider recording. Record somebody else\u2019s song? I never considered that. But, since he was the boss, I listened to his song.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was a rock song called \u201cBrandy\u201d that had been a minor hit in England, with a gruff-sounding lead singer. And it was totally wrong for me. But it was Clive Davis, my new president, so I recorded it. A week later, I met Clive in the recording studio and I played him the song he sent me with me singing the lead. Clive listened and said, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s the song you sent me.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s terrible,\u201d he replied. \u201cI know it\u2019s terrible,\u201d I said. \u201cBut that\u2019s the song you sent me.\u201d We stood there, staring at each other, and finally I said, \u201cClive, come into the studio with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the afternoon, in order to learn the song, I had played around with it. As I played \u201cBrandy,\u201d I found the love song hiding in this rock song. So, I slowed it down, changed a lot of the chords and added a key change, and I started it gently and built it to a passionate ending. I played my version for him. He was quiet and then he said, \u201cJust do that. Just do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBut we can\u2019t call it \u2018Brandy,\u2019 \u201d I said. \u201cCall it \u2018Mandy,\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cOK,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n
\n\tWithin a month, \u201cMandy\u201d soared to No. 1 on the charts. That was the beginning of my relationship with Clive. He would show me a song, I would turn it down, we\u2019d argue, I would rearrange it, I would record it. We would celebrate when they were hits, we would feel bad when they weren\u2019t. This went on for nearly 50 years. Clive has always been there for me. He believed in me from the very beginning. Boy, I\u2019m gonna miss him. Who am I gonna argue with? Thanks for everything, my friend.<\/p>\n
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\n Lucian Grainge (Chairman\/CEO, Universal Music Group)<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lucian-grainge-2026-bb7-billboard-1200.jpg?w=264\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Taylor Hill\/FilmMagic\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nW<\/span>hen I think back over more than four decades of friendship with Clive Davis, two moments always come to mind. In 1981, I was in a basement club on Baker Street in London to see a band I desperately wanted to sign: Haircut 100. The moment I saw Clive there, I knew they\u2019d sign to Arista. I was introduced to him that night. As a young talent scout, I was completely intimidated.<\/p>\n
\n\tA couple of years ago, I was in France and Allen Grubman<\/strong> invited me to lunch with Clive and his partner. It was an unforgettable afternoon, with Clive serving as an encyclopedic guide through the history of the music business, his years at CBS Records, the artists, the bets he made and why he made them. We never worked together, but I loved how he fused creative and commercial nous, setting the way for the modern music business.<\/p>\n
\n\tMy deepest, heartfelt condolences to his family, his four children and countless friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Rod Stewart<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rod-stewart-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: L. Busacca\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nI<\/span> remember distinctly one afternoon with Clive, Richard Perry<\/strong>, Arnold Stiefel<\/strong> and myself in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Richard and I had recorded a couple of tracks for the first\u00a0Great American Songbook<\/em> [album]. Clive didn\u2019t like them and said, \u201cThey\u2019re not right. I want it more Fred and Ginger\u201d [as in Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers]. Clive then stood up and started dancing around the room to make his point, then grabbed Arnold and made him his partner. So Richard and I followed suit and began dancing with each other around the room. Can you imagine four grown men dancing around the room with Clive shouting, \u201cIt must be more Fred and Ginger! It must be more Fred and Ginger!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Don Ienner (Former chairman, Sony Music Group)<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/don-ienner-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1200.jpg?w=227\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: L. Busacca\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nA<\/span>t around 6 p.m., when things quieted down, a few nights a week Clive would call me up to his office. We would listen to new music that came in, some mixes, edits or songs he was gathering for our artists. There would be a nice chunk of Jarlsberg cheese and some Carrs crackers. Occasionally, there would be Absolut Vodka in his freezer and maybe we would have a drink, but mostly we would play music and make some singles decisions and I would give him the lay of the land in radio and marketing, which I was responsible for at that time. We would laugh a lot, talk sports and then get back into listening and listening and listening more.<\/p>\n
\n\tThose candid moments with him would help shape my outlook, my dedication to excellence, and for that and so much more, I am eternally grateful to Clive for his unyielding desire to win, but with an elegance and warmth that he had in abundance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Julie Swidler (Former executive vp of business affairs\/general counsel, Sony Music Entertainment)<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/julie-swidler-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Michael Kovac\/WireImage\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nC<\/span>live never, ever put people in a box. He didn\u2019t say to you, \u201cOh, you can\u2019t do that because that\u2019s not your job,\u201d or, \u201cStay in your lane.\u201d He tried to figure out what people\u2019s strengths were, and he had you work within those strengths, which was an amazing learning experience. So if he thought I was the right person to give comments to a songwriter on a song, he would have me do it. He would hold the bar really high, and I would sit there and say, \u201cMy God, I can\u2019t,\u201d and most of us were like that: \u201cI can\u2019t possibly do that. What is he thinking?\u201d And then you would accomplish it and you would go, \u201cOh, my God. He\u2019s going to expect me to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe expected so much of his people that he made you push yourself, because he pushed himself so much. People ask me sometimes, because I know there are so many different stories of Clive, \u201cDid he really know what was going on with the business?\u201d And the answer was yes. Every detail. He knew that it was better to leave some of this stuff to others, so that he could be the creative person that works with the artist. But he knew everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Bill Kreutzmann<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bill-kreutzmann-mickey-hart-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ed Perlstein\/Redferns\/Getty Imag\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nC<\/span>live was different from the other suits for two reasons, both related \u2014 he actually cared about the artists that he worked with and Jerry didn\u2019t have a problem with him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Mickey Hart<\/h2>\n
![\"Mickey](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/P10X25X.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Michael Buckner\/Billboard\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nC<\/span>live recognized that working with the Grateful Dead would be a new kind of challenge. He was known as a producer of hit songs, and when he signed us we said, \u201cHey, Clive, we don\u2019t make hit pop records.\u201d He laughed. We wanted everything our way. Clive came and made his case. He wanted to pick the songs and have a say in the production. But in the end, he felt that our way might just be the right way.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe told me once that we were his wild card, that his greatest challenge was to help the Grateful Dead make a hit. I think he relished the idea from the beginning. Soon after this, [Robert] Hunter and [Jerry] Garcia wrote \u201cTouch of Grey.\u201d We recorded it and Clive was delighted when he heard it. \u201cThe Grateful Dead has a hit!\u201d he screamed running up and down the hallway at Arista. \u201cThey have a hit!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Narada Michael Walden (Producer\/arranger for Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and more)<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/narada-michael-walden-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1200.jpg?w=252\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Lester Cohen\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nI<\/span> did a song for an 11-year-old artist, Stacy Lattisaw, called \u201cLet Me Be Your Angel\u201d that was climbing the charts, and before I knew it Clive was calling me, asking, \u201cHow did you learn to make a record like that? You might want to come do some work for me.\u201d And that\u2019s how it began. He was a real fan of music. When he got excited, when he latched on with his heart to something he loved, everyone was going to hear it. When he would give me songs, I knew if I came to him and put on what they needed to be hits, they would be heard everywhere. He would say, \u201cGo to your mountain to meditate and bring back some hits.\u201d He would fall in love with a demo. Even if there was a mistake, it would charm him and he would want that mistake to be kept.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe was extremely big-hearted. And he picked good people to work for him. The people who worked for him also had the fever. This guy Gerry Griffith <\/strong>[was the one] who called me first to get on Whitney Houston. I said, \u201cBut I\u2019m on Aretha right now,\u201d and he said, \u201cYou don\u2019t want to miss this girl.\u201d When I first met her in the studio, I recognized this enormous sound and control from this beautiful stellar woman at 19. Just incredible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Rob Stringer (Chairman, Sony Music Group)<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/rob-stringer-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: John Sciulli\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nC<\/span>live of course played a seminal role in the story of Sony Music through two incredible chapters, and he is responsible for a huge part of the recorded legacy of the company permanently. Not only are many, many artists we represent continuously indebted to his service but so many staff members have been influenced and mentored by his deep love and respect for our company, which he carried right up until today. Our working lives are better for having had his constant presence in the aura and perception of Sony Music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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\n Charles Goldstuck (Founder\/managing partner, GoldState Music)<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/charles-goldstuck-clive-davis-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=300\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Frank Micelotta\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \nW<\/span>e joined forces well into his storied career. One could not wish for a greater friend or business partner. Our first test \u2014 and it was a big one \u2014 occurred in November 1999. Clive had been asked to have dinner with then-BMG Entertainment chairman Michael Dornemann<\/strong> and CEO Strauss Zelnick<\/strong>. They informed him that due to Bertelsmann\u2019s mandatory retirement age, which at the time was 60, he was being replaced as CEO of Arista Records and \u201cmoved into a chairman\u2019s role.\u201d Clive was 66. Clive walked out of the dinner, and when he got back to his apartment, he called me with the news. He was completely blindsided. As he said that evening, \u201cAhmet [Ertegun<\/strong>, founder and chairman of Atlantic Records and one of Davis\u2019 great rivals] is in his late 70s \u2014 I am a spring chicken as compared to him.\u201d He was, as he put it, \u201cat the peak of my powers.\u201d Arista had released Carlos Santana\u2019s Supernatural<\/em> album in June 1999. The album would go on to sell over 30 million albums and win nine Grammy Awards. Clive was at his best.<\/p>\n
\n\tWe assembled a team of advisers, including Allen Grubman<\/strong>, Joel Katz<\/strong> and Fred Davis<\/strong>, who helped plan Clive\u2019s next move. The end result of this upheaval was our launching J Records the next year. Our partner was Bertelsmann. Clive was on a mission. He called J Records an \u201cinstant major,\u201d and with a $150 million war chest \u2014 one of the biggest investments in a new music entity at the time \u2014 we were competitive. We competed with all the major labels. Our first office was half a floor in the Waldorf Hotel Towers. We removed all the hotel furniture and installed office furniture. The only problem was that the Waldorf was the locale of choice for U.S. presidents and world leaders.<\/p>\n
\n\tA few weeks after moving in, we were paid a visit by the U.S. Secret Service. Bill Clinton, who was the president at the time, was coming to New York and was going to be in residence on the floor above us. The Secret Service needed to perform a security sweep of our various rooms. They came in with several German shepherd sniffer dogs and asked us to leave the premises while they conducted their sweep. These dogs had a ferocious look about them and were quite intimidating. Clive and I were sitting at his makeshift desk, grappling with completing Alicia Keys\u2019 debut album, Songs in A Minor<\/em>. Clive calmly told the Secret Service agents that their German shepherds were disrupting important work, and could they come back tomorrow. They obeyed and came back later. Nothing could get in the way of the music. Not even the needs of the president of the United States of America. The artist always came first.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/lists\/clive-davis-tributes-barry-manilow-rod-stewart-stories\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/clive-davis-1908s-2026-bb7-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″] From his early years at CBS and Columbia Records to his all-conquering runs atop Arista, J Records and beyond, Davis was a music man through and through. Below, 10 of his artists, collaborators and admirers reflect on Davis, who died at the age of 94 on June 22, and how the Man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2048649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2048649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2048649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2048649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2048649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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