Clive Davis was born on April 4, 1932, in Brooklyn, New York, United States of America. His full name is Clive Jay Davis. He was an American music executive and producer who helped numerous musicians advance their careers and ran a number of labels, most notably CBS Records (1967–73) and Arista (1974–2000).
Davis received a scholarship to attend New York University (B.A., 1953) and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1956). He began working in the legal department of Columbia Records, a CBS subsidiary, in 1960. After becoming president of CBS Records in 1967, he went to the Monterey Pop Festival in California for the first time to see Janis Joplin perform.
He immediately signed Joplin’s band Big Brother and the Holding Company to Columbia, and Joplin quickly became one of the best rock vocalists of the 1960s. Davis signed the Carlos Santana-dedicated band in 1968. Davis was successful in bringing major rock acts like Billy Joel, Aerosmith, and Bruce Springsteen to Columbia.
Clive Davis siblings: Who are Clive Davis siblings?
Davis spent his childhood in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights. Davis lost both his mother and father when he was a teenager, both at the age of 47. He then moved in with his married sister in New York City’s Bayside, Queens.
