Clive Davis, the Bi Legendary Music Executive, Dead at 94
Davis came out as bisexual when he was 80 years old.
Clive Davis, the iconic music producer and mogul who helped catapult and sustain the careers of artists such as Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, and more, died Monday. He was 94.
His family announced his death on social media.
“To the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives. He discovered, mentored, and championed the greatest artists in modern music history, leaving an indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations. To his family, Clive was Dad and Granddaddy, the steady presence at the center of our lives, the source of wisdom, strength, encouragement, and unconditional love. No matter how extraordinary his professional accomplishments, he never lost sight of what mattered most: the people he loved,” Davis’s family wrote.
They continued: “Through every chapter of his remarkable life, family remained Clive’s greatest pride and deepest joy. Today, we celebrate not only a towering figure whose influence changed music forever, but the man who led our family with grace, generosity, and kindness. We will miss him greatly, cherish him always, and carry his love with us for the rest of our lives.”
Davis came out as bisexual in 2013.
The famed music executive was born in 1932 in Brooklyn. He went to New York University and Harvard Law School. After graduating from Harvard, he eventually found his way to Columbia Records. By the mid-1960s, he’d signed Joplin and her band and had become president of the company.
Some of the acts he signed at Columbia in those days included Santana, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, and Bruce Springsteen, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
After being fired from Columbia over allegations that he defrauded the company of almost $100,000, he formed Arista Records. There, he signed Carly Simon, the Grateful Dead, Dionne Warwick, and Houston.
He also helped with the rise of TLC, OutKast, and more. He was later named chief creative officer in 2008 at Sony BMG. Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nonperformer in 2000.
In his 2013 memoir The Soundtrack of My Life, Davis said he first had sex with a man in the “era of Studio 54” during his second marriage to a woman. “Was I nervous? Absolutely. Did the heavens open up? No. But it was satisfying,” he wrote, according to The Guardian.
After 1990, he said his long-term relationships had been with men. During television appearances promoting the book, he talked about bisexuality being “maligned and misunderstood.”
“For over 50 years, I never had sex with a male,” Davis said. “It wasn’t repressed. I had very good sexual relationships with women.”
“You don’t have to be only one thing or another,” he told Katie Couric. “I opened myself up to the possibility that I could have a relationship with a man as well as the two that I had with a woman.”
Davis married twice: to Helen Cohen from 1956 to 1965 and to Janet Adelberg from 1965 to 1985. He’s survived by his four children, several grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
He also leaves behind his partner, Greg Schriefer.
