\n\t\tou don\u2019t expect a lot of laughs at a funeral, but even before dozens of entertainment\u2019s biggest names \u2014 musicians, business titans, executives, media personalities \u2014 filed into New York\u2019s Central Synagogue on June 29 to say goodbye to Clive Davis<\/a>, who died<\/a> one week earlier at age 94, there were already jokes predicting the gathering\u2019s run time.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe know he didn\u2019t plan it, because it would have been eight hours \u2014 and four would\u2019ve been Clive talking,\u201d Diane Warren<\/a> recounts with her signature sass. \u201cAnd I say that with love.\u201d The award-winning songwriter, responsible for eternal hits like Aerosmith\u2019s \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Miss a Thing\u201d<\/a> and Cher\u2019s \u201cIf I Could Turn Back Time,\u201d<\/a> was referencing Davis\u2019 annual pre-Grammy gala, a star-studded Saturday-night soiree where music industry heavies, politicians, and other VIPs co-mingled for years as top talent took the stage to deliver unforgettable performances.<\/p>\n \n\tBetween bows, Davis would shout-out luminaries in the ballroom, listing their accolades like he was reading a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 aloud. The format was long \u2014 some might say tedious \u2014 and tightened ever so minimally as Davis aged. On Jan. 31 this year, with Davis seated for his hosting duties, Art Garfunkel took the Grammy party stage around 11 p.m., capping off a night that showcased of-the-moment stars like Olivia Dean and Sombr, regulars Jennifer Hudson and John Legend, hip-hop stars Clipse, and a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne featuring MGK and Jelly Roll.<\/p>\n \n\tAt 90 minutes, Davis\u2019 funeral stood in contrast to his famed parties, or even the A&R meetings he led, but the seating chart was no less challenging. Behind the immediate family \u2014 sons Fred, Doug, and Mitch, and daughter Lauren \u2014 were Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, Barry Manilow, and Usher. Across the aisle sat Dionne Warwick, Netflix\u2019s Ted Sarandos, Alicia Keys, Hudson, Mark Ronson, and Stevie Wonder.<\/p>\n \n\tFarther down the pews were top brass from WME and CAA, actor Adrien Brody, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Gayle King cut her European vacation short to make it. Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer flew in from London. Performing that Monday morning were Kenny G, Hudson, and Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, who delivered a moving \u201cSomewhere Over the Rainbow.\u201d (\u201cYou have a home at Sony Music Classics,\u201d Stringer cracked.)<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n \n\tGiven that Davis had for five decades served as host and emcee of a party that bore his name, there were certain expectations of this last curtain call \u2014 a celebration as much as a send-off, meticulously planned by the man himself, according to attendees.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tBruce Springsteen was one of many A-list mourners at Clive Davis\u2019 funeral.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNoam Galai\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe was a household name,\u201d says veteran label exec Barry Weiss, who worked with Davis while running Jive Records during its most profitable period, when Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Backstreet Boys were selling millions of albums. \u201cIt\u2019s very rare that somebody goes beyond the scope of just the music industry in terms of recognition, and Clive did that. I look at him as a national treasure and an American hero \u2014 the greatest record guy ever put on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe saw what very few people could see; he heard what very few people could hear,\u201d Motown founder Berry Gordy<\/a> adds of Davis, whom he calls a \u201ctreasured friend\u201d and \u201ctruly one of a kind.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDAVIS DREW A-LISTERS to his orbit with little effort. He\u2019d been doing it since the Sixties, when, as a fledgling label executive (outfitted in a tennis sweater and white slacks, with nary a hippie bead to be seen), a trip to the Monterey International Pop Festival led to his signing Janis Joplin to Columbia Records, followed in short order by Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and Santana.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n \n\tDavis\u2019 ambitions and golden ear would help soundtrack the next 50 years of pop, R&B, rock, and crossover hits. Among them: chart-toppers by Whitney Houston (\u201cHow Will I Know,\u201d<\/a> \u201cI Wanna Dance With Somebody\u201d<\/a>), Dionne Warwick (\u201cThat\u2019s What Friends Are For\u201d<\/a>), Santana with Rob Thomas (\u201cSmooth\u201d<\/a>), and Kelly Clarkson (\u201cMy Life Would Suck Without You\u201d<\/a>), alongside classics by Springsteen, Chicago, and even the Grateful Dead.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cClive had his hand on so many different things across all different genres of music,\u201d says producer Jimmy Jam<\/a>, who, along with his partner Terry Lewis, worked on a number of records at labels Davis ran \u2014 which would include Arista Records, launched in 1974, and J Records, the instant-major he founded in 2000. \u201cI know the term \u2018music\u2019s best friend\u2019 was one that people said about him. And I really feel that because of the lasting reverberations that we still hear today.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEven Springsteen was once just a guy with a guitar going in to audition for the man himself \u201cwith nothing but my whole world to lose,\u201d he said from the pulpit, recalling one fateful morning in 1972. \u201cI sat down, and tentatively strummed my guitar. And when I finished, Clive, smiling, simply said, \u2018Welcome to Columbia.\u2019 And in those few words, he changed my life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn the latter half of his career, Davis got into the reinvention business \u2014 with Rod Stewart among the beneficiaries, thanks to a hit album of American standards. \u201cNobody in the industry would touch the Great American Songbook. Not a soul,\u201d Stewart says of the 2002 collection. \u201cThey said a rock singer had no business singing the standards, and if I did, nobody would buy the bloody thing. Clive Davis was the only one who saw it differently. He was in the studio till three, four in the morning, going over the tracks with the band. And I kid you not, the man could hear a missed note from a mile off. It was a mad thought even having an executive in the room like that \u2014 but Clive was different.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMuch has been said and written about Davis\u2019 ear \u2014 an exceptional track record for spotting and crafting hit songs. Was it a natural-\u00adborn talent? A gut feeling? A skill honed after years of studying the charts, radio plays, sales data, and now streaming numbers? To hear his closest associates tell it, the magic was in the match \u2014 pairing the talent with the tune. And the list was long and impressive: Barry Manilow\u2019s \u201cI Write the Songs,\u201d<\/a> Melissa Manchester\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Cry Out Loud,\u201d<\/a> and Whitney Houston\u2019s smash remake of \u201cI Will Always Love You,\u201d<\/a> to name a few. \u201cHe had a very mysterious way of choosing the right person for the right song,\u201d Warwick tells Rolling Stone. \u201c\u2018Heartbreaker\u2019<\/a> was one I did not want to record.\u2026 And he called me and said, \u2018Dionne, you have to record this song. I can guarantee you it will be one of your biggest hits internationally.\u2019 \u2026 Well, guess what? He was right.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat experience was shared by Kenny Loggins<\/a>, whom Davis paired with Jim Messina for a string of hits in the Seventies. \u201cClive said, \u2018I want a six-year commitment, because I don\u2019t want to release the album of a band that\u2019s going to break up,\u2019\u201d Loggins recalls. \u201cAnd so, at his insistence, we stuck together, and that was the foundation of my solo career.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe could hear a hit, and he could hear a song that missed, as well,\u201d says songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, whose credits include Warwick\u2019s \u201cThat\u2019s What Friends Are For.\u201d<\/a> \u201cI remember Burt [Bacharach] and I sent him a song once, and he wrote back a note saying, \u2018We all know you\u2019re incapable of not writing a good song, but I\u2019m looking for an incredible song, and this one is not the one.\u2019 It was such a nice way of rejecting me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHow did a songwriter know when Davis connected with a song? \u201cYou saw it on his face,\u201d says Warren, who shared successes with Davis like Celine Dion\u2019s \u201cBecause You Loved Me\u201d<\/a> and Toni Braxton\u2019s \u201cUn-Break My Heart.\u201d<\/a> \u201cI saw tears in his eyes sometimes. This is someone that really felt it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe was a great A&R man,\u201d says Bayer Sager. \u201cAnd of course, nobody demonstrates that more than his relationship with Whitney, who was one of the greatest singers of all time, but also did follow along with what Clive wanted her to do. And what a career that was, and what a pairing. He found her and he molded her, and she allowed him to have that position in her life for a very long time. It was an amazing pairing of A&R and artist greatness on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt was partially his kindness, because he was a real gentleman,\u201d adds Weiss. \u201cAnd it was also from a business point of view, because he always believed you never know where your next hit is coming from. The writer who hasn\u2019t had a hit in eight years might come up with \u2018I Will Always Love You\u2019 next week. So you stay engaged with everybody. That was Clive.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIndeed, some of Davis\u2019 biggest successes were the executives and creatives he mentored and championed, like Larry Jackson, who founded Gamma (home to Kanye West and Usher) after a decade at Apple. The two would meet regularly at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Davis\u2019 West Coast outpost, as Jackson sharpened his A&R skills, and long after. \u201cHe always had an insatiable quest to have his taste and his understanding of the marketplace stay current,\u201d says Jackson. \u201cHe wanted to know the producers I was into; [which] songwriters I thought were the best. He would listen to all the newest releases. He had a voracious appetite to not fall off. He never wanted to have a dated point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \n\tJackson had a prime seat at Davis\u2019 A&R meetings, which were notoriously chilly, loud, and, yes, long. \u201cWe would be making creative decisions from noon until 5 or 6 p.m. And then my workday started. That was my experience working with him. It was around the clock.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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