Press/Reviews

Janis, Bruce and Whitney listened to Clive Davis’s advice— Laura Nyro, Loudon Wainwright III and Curtis Stigers didn’t.

By DAVID KIRBY
Wall Street Journal

Let’s begin with a quiz: Name the four performers who won an Oscar for acting and also had a No. 1 musical album. OK, Sinatra is a gimme, and it won’t surprise you to learn that Bing Crosby and Barbra Streisand are on the list. But that fourth name might be a little harder to come up with, so let’s range back and forth over the past half-century of the entertainment business, as producer and record executive Clive Davis does in this autobiography, and give that last bit of show-biz trivia time to bob to the surface….

Until now, though, no one has written a book that reveals as much about the industry as Mr. Davis’s book does. In his self-portrayal, he comes across as the nicest guy in the world, but make no mistake: This is one mogul who sometimes screws up and remembers every slight, often shedding crocodile tears as he points to yet another artist who might have had a career if only he had listened to the old square from Brooklyn who knew what made a song sizzle.

Click here to see the feature >>
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732347800457830244314069461…

The Los Angeles Times has posted their review of Clive Davis’ new book. Check out the piece, on their website HERE >>

The New York Times has posted their review of Clive Davis’ new book. Check out the piece, entitled “2 Masters of the Business That Is Recorded Music” on their website HERE >>

“What moves Clive Davis?” – CNN Profiles, 30 minutes with Clive Via CNN Radio

http://cnnradio.cnn.com/2013/04/12/cnn-profiles-what-moves-clive-davis/

Charlie Rose’s interview with Clive Davis, discussing his memoir ‘The Soundtrack of My Life’

www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12863

Book Review via The Cleveland Sound: “When it comes to trend-setting in music Sony’s Clive Davis has few rivals”. Take a moment to read.

Arista Records Man Clive Davis Writes Memoir
By Pete Roche
The Cleveland Sound

When it comes to trend-setting in music, Sony Music chief creative officer Clive Davis has few rivals.

As head of Columbia Records in the early ‘70s and his own Arista label in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Davis introduced the world to Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, and Alicia Keys. He was implemental in resurrecting the flagging or stalled careers of such singers as Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, and Aretha Franklin—effectively doubling their shelf lives—and his acumen, savvy, and innovation forever changed how the industry records, markets, and distributes music. After fifty years in the game Davis is beloved by artists on and off his labels, admired by his peers, and is as familiar to listeners as most musicians. His accomplishments earned him a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted in 2000 as a non-performer.

Only Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic) and David Geffen (DGC) boast similar musical Midas touches. Davis himself admits such in his terrific new autobiography, The Soundtrack of My Life (Simon & Schuster, 586 pages), a whopper of a tome that takes readers on a chronological (more or less) journey through Clive’s remarkable career of crafting hits that matter and developing artists for the long-term. A few tidbits about the man’s personal life are thrown in, but they almost seem like perfunctory afterthoughts compared with the exhaustive accounting of Davis’ work from the late ‘60s to mid-‘00s.

Click here to see the review >>
http://www.theclevelandsound.com/?p=15940

Via The Globe and Mail (Toronto): How the man behind the Bruce Springsteen, Barry Manilow & The Notorious B.I.G. stays on top of his game.

COURTNEY SHEA

Special to The Globe and Mail

Clive Davis might be the most influential executive in the history of modern music, having helped steer the careers of the Boss, Barry Manilow and the Notorious B.I.G. – and that’s just the Bs. In his new memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, Davis reflects on nearly a half-century of star-making. We asked him for some of the secrets to his success.

Click here to see the feature >>
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/how-the-man-behind-the-boss-barry-manilow-and-the-notorious-big-stays-on-top-of-his-game/article9219794/

Here are two video clips from this morning’s live appearance on VH1

http://on.vh1.com/179qMcI
http://on.vh1.com/179rKG5

Saturday afternoon listening: Clive Davis: A Life WIth A Soundtrack via NPR

by NPR Staff

If Columbia Records hadn’t signed Bruce Springsteen in the early 1970s, there’s a chance The Boss could have just been a small-stakes act, playing gigs around Asbury Park.

But music history would, of course, unfold differently. And Springsteen wasn’t the first or the last huge success for Clive Davis, the man at the helm of Columbia Records at the time. Over more than four decades in the music industry, Davis helped make household names (and, in some cases, icons) out of Billy Joel, Carlos Santana, Barry Manilow, Alicia Keys, Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston.

Davis shares personal stories about his life and career in his new memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, and he spoke about it with NPR’s Don Gonyea. Click the audio link on this page to hear the radio version, and read more of their conversation below via the link.

www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/02/23/172719492/clive-davis-a-life-with-a-soundtrack