Few record companies have had such a broad and lasting influence from a stylistic point of view as Clive Davis. Died yesterday at the age of 94, he entered the world of rock through the Monterey festival in 1967, when he was struck by Janis Joplin. It wasn't at the beginning of his career, but it was his rock “baptism” that then led him to deal with various labels, from Columbia to Arista to J Records, with artists ranging from Carlos Santana to Bruce Springsteen, from Whitney Houston to Alicia Keys (his story here).
And so after his death, copious messages arrived via social media. Like Springsteen who writes that «here on E Street we mourn the passing of the great record producer and dear friend Clive Davis. He changed my life when I was 22 by getting me signed to Columbia. He treated me with the same respect and kindness when I was an unknown 22-year-old and after I became successful. A great man.”
It was Davis, when Springsteen was working on the first album Greetings from Asbury Park. NJto push him to write new songs: he didn't hear a single. “In response,” Springsteen writes in his autobiography Born to Run «I went to the beach and wrote Spirit in the Nightthen I went home and, with my notebook in hand, I wrote Blinded by the Light. They were two of the best pieces of Greetings».
Another rock great who benefited from the presence of a record producer like Davis was Carlos Santana. «He believed in Santana from the beginning and years later he believed in them again», writes the guitarist. He's referring to the fact that Davis signed the group to Columbia when he was turning it into a rock label, back in the days of Black Magic Woman And Hey how's it goingand then greatly relaunched his career at the time of Supernaturalthe 1999 album that sold tons of copies and won nine Grammys. Smoothone of the hit singles from that album, was performed by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty who recalls that his “friend and mentor sent messages to my record company encouraging them to do everything possible to promote my records” so much so that “many took it for granted that I was under Clive's label”, when in fact he was simply helping a friend even if he was recording for a competing record company.
Davis, wrote Carlos Santana after his death, «understood that music is not just entertainment. It is a healing force. It unites people beyond fears, divisions and borders. He has dedicated his life to supporting artists and helping them share their talent with the rest of the world. He could see the light in people. He encouraged artists to trust their instincts and follow their destiny. Thanks to his vision, many musicians have managed to touch the hearts of people all over the world.”
Davis was also involved in Rod Stewart's revival operation. For better or for worse because by ripping it off in some rock-like way, it helped him take on the Great American Songbook in a series of five immensely successful albums. «I owe him a lot», Stewart writes, recalling that he was «the only one who believed that a rock singer could interpret the classics with conviction. Other labels had rejected the idea, and so it was born The Great American Songbookwhich has sold nearly 40 million copies.”
We read memories of authors like Dianne Warren (“like losing a father”), of veterans like Barry Manilow (“a giant, the first to sign me with a major label”), of record producers like Lucian Grainge (“an encyclopedic guide to the history of the music industry”), of artists of all ages, from Patti Smith who thanks him for “believing in me, guiding my efforts and for half a century of love and support” to Alicia Keys who defines him as “a visionary who transformed dreams into reality”.
