Clive Davis: 'A Tremendous Lucky Break'
Clive Davis has discovered, signed and supported some of the biggest names in music over the past 45 years -- Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys -- just to name a few. Known in the music industry as "The Man With The Golden Ears" because of his uncanny ability to match hit songs with great singers, Davis is also the guy who signed punk poet Patti Smith, took classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz to a New York disco and catalyzed the progressive fusion of bands like Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
The story of how a good Jewish boy from Brooklyn who wanted to be a lawyer but instead became one of the most powerful and influential men in the world of music is the subject of his new autobiography, The Soundtrack of My Life. In an interview with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Davis explains how he lucked into the music business, describes his first experience listening to Janis Joplin, and dispels rumors about his public tiff with Kelly Clarkson.
On luck and his career:
Luck played a real major part in my life. My parents died when I was in [my] teens. We had no money. After they died I had $4,000 from insurance to help get me through NYU…. I went to Harvard Law School, and through another lucky break I got to a law firm that represented Columbia Records. And after I was there two to three years I got an offer to become the Assistant Counsel for Columbia Records with the understanding that within a year I would be their general counsel…. That was the lucky break — a tremendous lucky break.
On his experience at the Monterrey Pop Festival:
I had no idea what to expect. It was the first pop festival. I really went with my wife at the time thinking it would be a social weekend to see The Mamas & the Papas and Simon & Garfunkel. I found myself on the fairgrounds in the afternoon, and I’m wearing khaki pants and a tennis sweater in the midst of a cultural and social and music revolution. Everybody with the robes and the beads. It was just a wonderful beginning — a Utopian beginning — of the peace and flowers Haight-Ashbury life.
On seeing Janis Joplin for the first time at the Monterrey Pop Festival:
Five years of being a lawyer led to my being head of Columbia Records. I had no musical training. I just watched, observed, listened. I knew music was changing, and all of a sudden I was in the midst of a revolution, knowing that no other music executive was there. And I knew that I had to step forward and make the first move for me creatively, and I was determined to sign Janis and the group. Which I did.
On his well publicized dispute with Kelly Clarkson:
I clearly make it apparent in my book, and I’m going to restate it on your program: She is an important pop talent. She will have a career that will go on for many years. I just saw her on the Grammys. She did an incredible version of “Tennessee Waltz” and “Natural Woman”…. The important overview is that Kelly Clarkson has a lot of talent. She’s gonna have a very, very good career.
