Clive Davis Net Worth 2024

What is Clive Davis’s Net Worth and Salary?

Clive Davis is an American file producer and music business government who has a net worth of $850 million. Clive Davis is thought for heading such labels as Columbia Records, Arista Records, and J Records. Over the course of his decades-long profession within the music business, he signed such main artists as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Sly and the Family Stone. Additionally, Davis is credited with serving to to launch the careers of Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow. Five-time Grammy-winner Clive Davis can be a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer.

Early Life and Education

Clive Davis was born on April 4, 1932 within the Brooklyn borough of New York City to Jewish dad and mom Herman and Florence. He was raised within the Crown Heights neighborhood. When Davis was a youngster, he misplaced each of his dad and mom inside a two-year span; he subsequently lived along with his married sister in Queens. For his greater schooling, he attended New York University, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1953 with a level in political science. Davis went on to attend Harvard Law School on a full scholarship; he graduated in 1956.

Legal Career

After graduating from Harvard Law, Davis practiced at a small agency in New York. Following two years there, he moved to the agency of Rosenman, Colin, Kaye, Petschek, and Freund. Notably, companion Ralph Colin had CBS as a shopper, resulting in Davis’s hiring as an assistant counsel for the CBS subsidiary Columbia Records. Eventually, he moved as much as the place of normal counsel.

Columbia Records

While Davis was serving as normal counsel at Columbia Records, the corporate underwent a reorganization. As a end result, in 1965, Davis was made administrative vice chairman and normal supervisor of Columbia. The yr after that, CBS fashioned the Columbia-CBS Group, which in flip yielded the brand new music operations arm CBS Records. Davis turned the pinnacle of that new unit, and inside a yr was appointed president. Looking to capitalize on the fledgling technology of rock and folks rock artists, he signed British singer-songwriter and musician Donovan early on. Additionally, Davis employed singer Tony Orlando as normal supervisor of the Columbia publishing subsidiary April-Blackwood Music. Later, Orlando turned vice chairman of CBS Music.

After attending the Monterey Pop Festival in the summertime of 1967, Davis instantly signed Janis Joplin and her group Big Brother and the Holding Company. He went on to signal various different profitable artists to Columbia, together with Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Billy Joel, and Loggins and Messina. In the early 70s, Davis had main will get by signing Earth, Wind & Fire and Aerosmith. Meanwhile, one of the commercially profitable albums throughout his Columbia tenure was Lynn Anderson’s “Rose Garden,” which spawned the worldwide hit single of the identical identify. In 1973, Davis was fired from Columbia/CBS for allegedly taking firm funds to bankroll his son’s bar mitzvah.

Arista Records

In 1974, Davis based Arista Records. At the label, which he headed till 2000, he signed a plethora of vastly profitable artists, together with however not restricted to: Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Ace of Base, Air Supply, Taylor Dayne, and Alicia Keys. In 1989, Davis co-founded Arista Nashville with Tim DuBois, and subsequently signed such nation artists as Pam Tillis, Brad Paisley, and Brooks & Dunn. Davis was later fired from Arista and its dad or mum firm BMG in 2000 as a result of an age restriction coverage. In 2011, Arista was dissolved throughout the restructuring of RCA.

LaFace Records

In 1989, Clive co-founded LaFace Records with L.A. Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. LaFace Records would turn out to be enormously profitable within the late 90s and early 2000s due to acts like TLC (75 million data offered), Toni Braxton (65 million) and Usher (65 million).

J Records, RCA, and Sony

After leaving Arista, Davis launched the label J Records, which was distributed by means of the RCA Music Group. A pair years later, he turned president and CEO of RCA. In 2004, BMG merged with Sony Music Entertainment to kind Sony BMG, and in 2008 Davis left RCA to turn out to be Sony BMG’s chief artistic officer. He was quickly promoted to chief artistic officer of Sony Music Entertainment.

Bad Boy Records

In 1993, Sean Combs was a recently-fired expertise government at Uptown Records searching for a house. He landed a gathering with Clive, who was famously not a fan of rap music on the time. Later Clive would clarify:

“I did not even know that a lot about Puffy. I did take the assembly, and it was no query that he had the imaginative and prescient, {that a} hip-hop revolution was coming. He wanted my experience to “conquer” Top 40, I used to be skeptical. So I requested Puffy, what music do you may have? He performed me “Flava In Ya Ear” by Craig Mack. That offered me.“

Clive gave Puffy a distribution deal and $15 million to launch Bad Boy Records. Through Bad Boy, Clive would have monumental success from artists like Mase, 112, The Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans.

Davis created J Records in 2000 and now serves because the chief artistic officer for Sony Music. He has 5 Grammy awards and is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Personal Life

Davis wed his first spouse, Helen Cohen, in 1956; they finally divorced in 1965. He was subsequently married to Janet Adelberg from 1965 till their divorce in 1985. Davis has a complete of 4 kids: Fred and Lauren from his first marriage and Mitchell and Doug from his second. In his 2013 autobiography “The Soundtrack of My Life,” he publicly revealed his bisexuality.

Real Estate

Clive Davis owns various properties in New York City. He owns not less than 5 items in a single Manhattan constructing situated at 465 Park Avenue. In 2017 he listed certainly one of his items within the constructing for $7.8 million. He finally diminished the worth to as little as $6.2 million earlier than taking it off the market in 2019. That one unit alone comes with a month-to-month $11,700 HOA price!

He additionally owns an expensive compound in Westchester County, New York the place he often entertains company on weekends. The dwelling, which he purchased in 1991 after his second divorce, has a 30-seat dwelling theater and an 8,000 square-foot important home along with a 6,000 square-foot visitor home.

Awards

Davis has received 5 Grammy Awards as a producer. His first was in 1994 for Album of the Year for Whitney Houston’s soundtrack to the film “The Bodyguard.” Davis subsequent received Best Rock Album and Album of the Year for Santana’s “Supernatural.” His different Grammy Awards are for Best Pop Vocal Album, for Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway,” and Best R&B Album, for Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled debut. In different honors, Davis received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement in 2000.

Art Collection

Clive’s artwork assortment may be value $100 million by itself. The assortment contains items from Picasso, Damien Hirst, Dale Chihuli, Adolph Gottlieb, Andy Warhol and extra.