Clive Davis

In his just published memoir, music industry executive and record producer Clive Davis (b. 1932) states that he is bisexual. He is currently involved with another man, who is not in the entertainment industry. His new book, titled The Soundtrack of My Life, states that he remains close to his family, which includes three sons, a daughter and six grandchildren. Davis, who has been married to two women in the past, says that his family has always known of his bisexuality. For many years there have been rumors that Davis had sexual relationships with men, so this memoir confirms the validity of insider gossip.

"After my second marriage failed in 1985, I met a man who was also grounded in music. Having only had loving relationships and sexual intimacy with women, I opened myself up to the possibility that I could have that with a male, and found that I could, but 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."

Among the personal revelations laid bare in the book is the admission that for the past 20 years he has had two long-term male partners, with a doctor for thirteen years and for the past seven with another man he does not name.

Eighty-year-old Davis has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was president of Columbia Records, and he later founded Arista Records and J Records. From 2002 to 2008, Davis was the Chairman and CEO of the RCA Music Group. Currently Davis is currently the Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment and today plays a part in the careers of Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, Christina Aguilera, Carlos Santana, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis and Jennifer Hudson. Davis is credited with bringing Whitney Houston (shown below) to prominence.

Davis was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, NY. Both his mother and father died when Davis was a teenager, leaving him an orphan with no money to support himself, but he did not allow those adverse conditions to hold him back. He earned a full scholarship to NYU, from which he graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, then went on to receive a full scholarship to Harvard Law School. He began working in a NYC law office in the late 1950s, and by the age on twenty nine was general counsel to Columbia Records, a CBS subsidiary (and a client of his firm). Ten years later the Columbia Records president appointed Davis as its General Manager, and by 1966 Davis was himself president of Columbia Records. Davis led Columbia’s entry into rock music, signing Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Blood Sweat & Tears and countless others, doubling the label’s market share in three years.

Clive Davis was summarily fired from CBS Records for using company funds to bankroll his son's bar mitzvah, but he bounced back to found Arista Records, named after New York City's secondary school honor society of which he was a member. Thereafter his career was a stellar trajectory to success far beyond that of any other producer. Many in the industry consider Davis a legend in his own time.