Clive Davis Developed Some Of Music’s Biggest Acts

On Monday, the legendary music producer Clive Davis died at the age of 94. As noted by our sister site, BOSSIP, “In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, his longtime representative Aliza Rabinoff said Davis “passed away peacefully from age-related illness” while surrounded by family and loved ones.”

A five-time Grammy winner, Davis played a major role at some of the music industry’s biggest companies, including Columbia Records, RCA Music Group, and BMG. He launched Arista Records in 1974 and led the label until 2000, before starting J Records. Often referred to as the “man with the golden ears,” Davis helped discover and develop many artists who became global stars. In 2008, he was named chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment.

Today, we at NewsOne thought we’d take a moment to spotlight some of the biggest hitmakers Davis had a hand in bringing to the forefront. 

Whitney Houston 

Obviously, one cannot talk about the biggest hitmakers discovered by Clive Davis without talking about Whitney Houston. Davis discovered Whitney Houston when she was only 19-years-old. After signing her to his record label, Arista, Davis didn’t rush her out to market. Instead, he took two years personally overseeing Houston’s debut album. 

That level of care no doubt played a role in Whitney Houston’s becoming an immediate superstar. While her first two albums, the self-titled Whitney Houston and Whitney, received a mixed critical response, they were commercial sensations. In just her first two at-bats, Whitney Houston made history, becoming the first artist to have seven consecutive singles top the Billboard Hot 100. 

As we all know, Whitney Houston was anything but a flash-in-the-pan success. She became a dominant cultural force throughout the ‘90s, starring in films like The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale, and The Preacher’s Wife, while still topping the charts with both soundtrack albums and her own. 

From her run of hit singles and several albums going platinum to becoming the first woman ever to have an album reach Diamond status, Whitney Houston is one of the greatest artists to ever live, male or female, and the definitive Clive Davis success story. 

Babyface, L.A. Reid, and LaFace Records 

Throughout the ‘80s, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and L.A. Reid developed a reputation as being some of the most reliable songwriters and producers in the R&B space. While working with Davis on Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” the two expressed a desire to launch their own label to discover and nurture new artists. Davis saw this as an opportunity for Arista to expand its reach into a more youthful sound and entered into a joint partnership with the duo, LaFace Records. 

LaFace would go on to introduce some of the biggest R&B and hip-hop acts of the ‘90s. We’re talking TLC, Toni Braxton, Usher, and OutKast. While Babyface and L.A. Reid were given full autonomy of the label, Davis would assist when needed. An anecdote on Davis’ website reveals that Toni Braxton was initially hesitant to record “Un-Break My Heart.” After Davis convinced her it would be a hit, she recorded the song, and wouldn’t you know it, he was absolutely right. 

Aretha Franklin 

While Clive Davis didn’t discover Aretha Franklin, he was instrumental in getting her career back on track. By the ’80s, Aretha Franklin’s career had effectively stalled out. While she had occasional success on the R&B charts with songs like “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” her album sales continued to plummet throughout the late ‘70s. In 1980, Franklin left Columbia Records and signed with Davis’ Arista Records. 

Under Davis’s direction, Aretha Franklin’s career steadily rebounded throughout the ‘80s, with her singles performing well on both the R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts. She reached her highest commercial success in 1985 when her album Who’s Zooming Who? became her first and only platinum album. Her renewed success would continue the following year after she took Davis’ suggestion to record a duet with George Michael. The result, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” became Aretha Franklin’s first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 in 20 years. 

The revival of Aretha Franklin’s career was yet another example of Davis’ keen, commercial instincts.

Alicia Keys 

Clive Davis’ abilities as a tastemaker continued well into the early 2000s. After being replaced at Arista Records by L.A. Reid, Davis went on to create his own label, J Records. One of his first signings was a little-known R&B singer named Alicia Keys. At the time, Keys was struggling at Columbia Records, which she signed to when she was 15. 

Much like Davis was instrumental in Whitney Houston becoming one of the defining voices of the ‘90s, he essentially repeated the same trick by helping Alicia Keys become one of the defining voices of the 2000s. While he personally oversaw Houston’s development, he took a more hands-off approach with Keys as he recognized her skill as a singer-songwriter. 

Keys’ debut, Songs In A Minor, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming J Records’ first number one album. The album’s lead single, “Fallin’,” also hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and is one of the defining songs of the early 2000s. 

Two years later, Keys would go on to release the follow-up The Diary of Alicia Keys, which went on to be a mammoth success, selling 618,000 copies in its first week alone. With Alicia Keys, Clive Davis showed that even with several decades in the game, he still knew a hitmaker when he heard one. 

We could go on and on about all the great music Clive Davis had a hand in, but there’s neither enough time nor page space. So I’ll end with a simple thank you to Clive Davis for all the great music you helped shepherd into our lives. 

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