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There he sat with a smile on his face!!! On TV!!! Clive
Davis was an honorary judge on American Idol on Wednesday…a
few days ago. For those of you who have been living without
listening to music for 50 years let me explain that Clive is
the record person of all time….at least that is my opinion.
As an honorary judge of American Idol his main job was to
select three songs that would best show off the talent of
the three finalists….Bo, Carrie and Vonzell. For Bo he
selected “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down”, etc. For Carrie he
selected “Cryin’”, and for Vonzell it was “I’ll Never Love
This Way Again”. Clive nailed it!!!! A perfect match of song
and vocalist.
But that is nothing new for Clive Davis. He has a long and
successful career as President of Columbia Records, Arista
Records, and J Records. Clive is very active in the
business. As a matter of record he told Bo in so many words
that we would look forward to getting him into a recording
studio.
When he was with Columbia he helped form the record career
of Barbra (there is only one) and Simon and Garfunkle and
dozens more. With Arista it was Air Supply, Whitney Houston,
Kenny G, Barry Mailow and dozens more. This guy is a
heavyweight!!! This guy knows music!!! He is my record
hero!!!
Before I met Clive I was having some white wine at the
Bottom Line (I think that was the name of the club) in New
York when Clive wandered in to see a new act. Clive watched
the act. I watched Clive watching the act. For 45 minutes he
did not move, not even for a glass of water. He stared
(nicely) at the act and got the full impact!! Guess he
didn’t like what he saw because they were not signed.
Clive always hired exceptional management people, but there
was no doubt who ran the show. It was always Clive’s call
whether to sign a new act, and how to match the act with
music and arrangements.
Clive spent advertising bucks on radio stations. He was a
very large account for my group called Pacific and Southern
Broadcasting. As I remember it was in excess of one hundred
thousand a year (very big money at that time). One of
Clive’s assistants called long distance to tell me that
Clive wanted to see me. I flew to New York and was escorted
to Clive’s office. The great man was there smiling!!!! The
conversation lasted only five minutes and it became very
intense. Clive said that he thought buying advertising on
our radio stations was the right thing for his company to
do….BUT, that we should be playing more of his newly
released records. He implied in the conversation that the
radio and record companies should sort of be partners…in a
sense. He was particularly upset that we were not playing a
top ten record of his (I don’t remember the title or
artist). I explained to him that as a company we were
researching our listening audience (new at the time) and we
programmed the type of music and artists our listeners
preferred…I explained about demographics, gender, etc. I
explained to him that TOP 40 was changing and will no longer
will play country hits…even though they may go to number one
on the charts…on a rock station. Needless to say Clive
didn’t like what I had to say, but was very gracious as he
stood up to shake hands…goodbye!! A very quick meeting,
indeed. I know because I WAS THERE!!! I flew back to Atlanta
and the next day received word that his company would buy
no…as in zero….more advertising on our stations. One big
advertiser was GONE!!!! I was very unhappy with THAT news;
and Clive must have been very unhappy with what I told him
in New York; however it was business as usual so I
instructed our radio programmers to forget the incident and
to research, grade and program Clive’s new records as we
always had.
The next time I saw Clive…many years later… was at a dinner
at a French restaurant in Buckhead, a ‘burb of Atlanta. He
brought some of his people, and I had brought mine. I didn’t
know what to expect…maybe a continuation of the New York
conversation; however, I guess that over the years we both
buried the hatchet…because there was no mention of our New
York meeting. We talked music and radio…but with no debates.
Dinner was very pleasant, and I think I may have picked up
the check!!!!
Everyone has an opinion…Clive had his, and I had mine. I
will tell you one thing for certain….when Clive gets Bo into
the studio we are going to hear some first class music…the
Clive way!!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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