The Secret To His Success
Clive Davis’s incredible run in the music business
There he was once again — and on CBS Sunday Morning — talking about the upcoming We Love NY concert to be performed in Central Park this coming weekend. Clive Davis is now 89 years of age. When most people are either gone or drooling on a bib in a nursing home, Clive is still musically and culturally relevant. How has he done it? The secret to Clive’s success has absolutely nothing to do with his being a musical genius.
Back when I was in the music business, there was an old line producers used to describe situations during which they had no choice but play their productions for non-musicians: “That dude couldn’t hear a toilet running.”
What it meant was the man making decisions had no concept of what was quality music played by talented musicians versus what was total crap performed by hacks. And often, not being able to hear a toilet run is qualification #1 for success in the music business. Clive has it in spades.
Years ago, I was sitting in the outer office of Vanguard Records waiting to play what I’d just recorded for an executive. Next to me was another producer of more renown than I waiting for the same guy. We got to talking. And he had a story about Clive Davis I loved.
