Clive Davis Quotes & Sayings

I know that Kelly Clarkson is going to continue to have an important career. And I believe it will be a lasting one. — Clive Davis

My years with Aretha Franklin have been very special, as were the years making records with Dionne Warwick. Other highlights include working with Janis Joplin, who was the first artist I ever signed, as well as Patti Smith and Alicia Keys. — Clive Davis

I had no idea what awaited me when I took a job with CBS Records, and it was a total surprise to find I had a gift and an ear for music. — Clive Davis

The subject of bisexuality really needs much more discussion. It's a status that does exist. — Clive Davis

I'm not into one-hit wonders. — Clive Davis

You don't have favorites among your offspring, and you don't among the artists you're involved with, but clearly among my most favorite was Patti Smith. — Clive Davis

I am passionate about music and my work to the bottom of my very soul, but I also very much enjoy good clothes and some of the finer things in life. Rappers do, too, and perhaps it's one of the reasons I've been welcomed so warmly into their world. — Clive Davis

If an artist knows you have respect for their talent - which I have to feel to my core, to sign them - they know that you're in their corner. That doesn't mean you have to be 'mum' on everything; it doesn't mean you can't raise your voice. — Clive Davis

Having lost both my parents as a teenager, family is so important to me, and I cherish my time with my children and grandchildren. I have four children, and they all became lawyers - as I was myself before I got into music. — Clive Davis

I encourage the study of music. And the immersion. 'Cause my life has been so enriched by being involved in music as I have. — Clive Davis

My 'act' was schoolwork. I was your basic, garden-variety, ambitious, upwardly mobile, hard-working Jewish boy from Brooklyn. I was bound to go beyond my parents. It was simply the way things were. — Clive Davis

It's not for me to determine what a country artist has in common with a hip-hop artist. You go for those with long-lasting careers. And that's what I've had as my target all my life. — Clive Davis

I feel blessed that I found not just a profession, but a 24/7 way of life that I purely love. That curiosity to be current, to listen to the Hozier album, to be early in recognition of a Lorde and spending time with her and Miguel, the pleasure of seeing new talent erupt ... I love it. — Clive Davis

There's no way that music could ever go down the tubes. I can't imagine a civilization without music. When you realize today that music is such a part of people's lives. And will always be, really. — Clive Davis

You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you. — Clive Davis

The purity of finding the right artist, that artist that's gonna be the next hall of famer, that artist that's gonna be the next headliner, lifting people out of their seats at Madison Square Garden, that song that's gonna be sung for hundreds and hundreds of years, that essence remains the same. — Clive Davis

I did not develop my ear. I discovered I had an ear, and it was an accident. — Clive Davis

It is only occasional that talent becomes genius - radiating sparks, brilliance, energy, and charismatic magnetism ... such a talent was Janis Joplin. — Clive Davis

I had no idea that I was ever getting into music. I did not prepare for a music career, and here I've found, out of pure luck, that I did have, not only a talent and an ear, but a passion for music. And I have it to this day. — Clive Davis

My introduction of Whitney was that if there's going to be one performer for the next generation who combined the beauty and lyric phrasing of a Lena Horne with those Gospel fiery roots of an Aretha Franklin, it would be Whitney Houston. — Clive Davis

It seemed like an impossible task to do full justice to all Luther classics. And yet these landmark artists have done just that. Memorable performances of wonderful songs that ensure Luther's legacy will live on forever. — Clive Davis

You look for stars. You look for the makeup of artists who can have long lasting careers and who could be headliners. — Clive Davis

The music began, and it was one of those life-changing moments. I saw an artist, Janis Joplin. She was exhilarating. She was vibrating. And she was like no other artist that I had ever seen before ... It struck me that hard. Maybe the word is epiphany, when you get that special sensation. — Clive Davis

The story of Rod Stewart, the story of Carlos Santana is so inspiring to young musicians because it shows in this trendy business how long a career can last. It shows how you can soar back, regardless of age. — Clive Davis

I'm the keeper of the flame for Whitney Houston. She was the greatest ... and I don't want the world to forget that. — Clive Davis

I never stopped being attracted to women. Bisexuality is misunderstood; the adage is that you're either straight or gay or lying, but that's not my experience. To call me anything other than bisexual would be inaccurate. — Clive Davis

This group came on stage, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and this whirling dervish, this electrifying white soul singer was so riveting. And I'm seeing this and I said, 'My God, this is a musical revolution.' — Clive Davis

To this day, there's nobody, nobody that sounds like Janice Joplin. — Clive Davis

There will come a time when very few will care about other people's sexual preference - or preferences. — Clive Davis

I have total respect for the self-contained rock artist. Whether you're dealing with Jerry Garcia or Lou Reed or Patti Smith or a Whitney or an Aretha, they know what they want with their career. — Clive Davis

Watching artists like Joplin perform, I felt that tingle down my spine; I experienced the wonders of a cultural and musical revolution. — Clive Davis

I play no instruments. — Clive Davis

This was work (music industry) but it was the awakening to what was to become a life's passion. — Clive Davis

I never paid attention when the LP became the cassette and the cassette became the CD and now we're dealing, you know, with MP3s. It's okay. — Clive Davis

The adage that you're either gay or straight or you're lying, well, that's not true. Bisexuality does exist. — Clive Davis

In this age when people expect to get their music for free, we have to work out how we can protect the rights of creative artists so they are compensated fairly and that the record business itself remains sound and healthy. — Clive Davis

I feel that contemporary music, with very few exceptions, is missing the voice. You see an award show, you see a hundred extras on set dancing and special effects, and you don't see that solo voice that was the trademark of Adele. It's no accident that it was her album that ended up selling 27 million copies worldwide. — Clive Davis

You see the genius that Whitney Houston has as an interpreter of material, and you realize why genius can be applied to only a few interpretive performers. She finds meaning and depth and soulfulness in a song that often the writer and composer never really knew was there. — Clive Davis

I want to hear the word 'cherish' about 5 times. — Clive Davis

After my second marriage failed ... I said, 'You know, could I have a relationship with a man? A loving relationship with a man that would involve intimacy?' For a while, before I did get into a relationship, I saw, for a few years, either women or men. And I found that I could be attracted to both. — Clive Davis

I would say, from an all-around point of view, Bruce Springsteen is one of the two great poet lords of America, Bob Dylan, coming out of the music world, the two of them. — Clive Davis