Springsteen, Keys, Warwick to Perform at Clive Davis
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- Clive Davis died Monday at age 94, and his funeral is scheduled for Monday in New York City, though the location has not been announced.
- Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, Kenny G, and Jennifer Hudson are expected to participate in the funeral, with more artists likely to join.
- Over a 60-year-plus career, Davis steered Columbia, Arista, and J Records to the pinnacle of the pop music business, signing or developing Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, and Springsteen at Columbia in the late '60s.
- Davis launched Arista Records after leaving Columbia, where Whitney Houston became the biggest star on a roster of top pop, rock, and R&B acts.
- After an awkward Sony-Bertelsmann merger led to an attempt to push Davis into retirement, he instead launched J Records, best known for launching Alicia Keys.
- Davis was so well known in the music industry that he was usually referred to by first name alone, and his lavish annual Grammy Week party became the music business' most coveted social invitation, becoming an official Recording Academy function in 2009.
Why it matters: Davis's funeral reads as a roll call of 60 years of pop music history — Joplin, Springsteen, Houston, Keys — because he personally signed or developed each one. His career arc, from Columbia to Arista to a third act at J Records after being pushed out in the Sony-Bertelsmann merger, represents the last era of the executive-as-talent-scout model.
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