Record mogul Clive Davis is seen here in his New York office on September 10, 1980.Image: keystone
June 22, 2026, 6:42 p.mJune 22, 2026, 6:42 p.m
The legendary music producer Clive Davis, who discovered stars such as Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow, is dead. Davis died in New York at the age of 94, several US media outlets unanimously reported, citing his family and management. According to media reports, the music producer had previously been in hospital with respiratory problems.
In addition to Houston and Manilow, Davis also supported stars and bands such as Janis Joplin, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, Patti Smith, Alicia Keys and Aerosmith – and thus had a decisive influence on the music history of the past decades. For his 90th birthday, the producer treated himself to a huge party in New York with dozens of star guests and a mini documentary series. Otherwise, he had already largely withdrawn from the public eye.
Davis had to earn college himself
The producer was born in 1932 in the New York borough of Brooklyn into a Jewish family. His parents died in quick succession when Davis was just entering college. “I still had $4,000 to get me through college and law school,” the star producer once said in an interview. To get scholarships, Davis had to keep his grade point average high. “It gave me a good work ethic.”
“Loved everything” about his life: Clive Davis.Image: keystone
After graduating, he worked as a lawyer and eventually joined the music company Columbia before founding several of his own labels. The multiple Grammy winner has also been a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2000. Privately, two marriages failed, from which Davis has four children. In his 2013 autobiography “The Soundtrack of My Life,” Davis acknowledged his bisexuality. “It was only in middle age, after two failed marriages, that I looked beyond gender when it came to relationships.”
Davis: Whitney Houston was a “vocal genius”
One of his most important professional discoveries was Whitney Houston, says Davis looking back. «We had a very close professional relationship from the time I discovered her in 1983. (…) She was a vocal genius. She could transform a song and make it completely different.” In 2022, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, a film produced by Davis among others, will be released about the singer, who died in 2012.
Davis said he misses Houston very much, as does singer Aretha Franklin, who died in 2018. “She and I became very good friends. We went out to eat together and talked about life. She never admitted that she was terminally ill. We chatted until a few weeks before her death.”
Davis listened most to the music of Bruce Springsteen
But he listens most to the music of Bruce Springsteen. «I love everything by Springsteen. From the moment he signed his contract to his Broadway appearances, I’ve watched him his entire life.”
He “loved everything” about his life, Davis told Rolling Stone a few years ago. “Going into the recording industry and devoting my life to music was incredibly fulfilling and satisfying in every way.” (sda/dpa)