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The funeral of legendary music executive Clive Davis — who died last Monday at the age of 94 after a six-decade career — was every bit as dignified, flawlessly executed and deeply emotional as one of the events he staged
or hits he oversaw, with moving speeches from Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, his sons Fred and Doug, and a stunning performance by Jennifer Hudson. Spotted among the attendees were Stevie Wonder, Gayle King and multiple top industry executives.
Uncharacteristically, for any who attended any of those events, it was a compact program that lasted just under 90 minutes.
The service, which was livestreamed from the Central Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan, began with a solo performance by Kenny G. A brief introduction from Senior Rabbi Angela W. Buchdahl followed, who began by saying “Clive would have loved this, he would have been touched that he filled the house, and by the many stars who are here.” She then spoke of the importance of music for human lives and to religion: “In the Torah, when God parts the Red Sea and the Israelites cross over intro freedom, what does Moses do on the other side? He does not give a speech, he does not even pray: He sings.”
Many cantors are stunning singers, but Buchdahl proved herself exception by singing a song that Davis loved that he wasn’t involved with: a jazzy version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” accompanied by a pianist and string quartet.
A series of brief but powerful speeches followed. Dionne Warwick spoke of their decades of friendship and how, after her early years of success, she found herself without a record deal and was enjoying raising her sons. When she and Davis were introduced in the 1970s, he asked if she was making music. “Nah, I think I’m gonna give this business up.” “Well,” he insisted, “the business isn’t willing to give you up!” He convinced her to make an album with him and Barry Manilow, and the result was her multiplatinum 1979 comeback album, “Dionne.”
Barry Manilow spoke of their awkward first meetings, and how he’d recorded a rock song, at Davis’ request, that was a minor U.K. hit called “Brandy.” He recorded a rock version, “Clive said, ‘That’s terrible!’ I said, ‘I know it’s terrible!’” But he worked out a version in a more comfortable arrangement, and “I found the love song hiding in this rock song. And Clive said, ‘Do that.’” The result, of course was retitled “Mandy” by Davis and became Manilow’s first major hit — and, he said, set the pattern of the two of them arguing and then emerging with a successful song.
His eldest son, attorney Fred Davis, recalled their early years living on Long Island — “Can you imagine Clive Davis living in suburbia?” and commuting to his job as a lawyer before he became head of Columbia Records in the mid-1960s.
By contrast, his youngest son Doug, with whom he organized the Pre-Grammy Gala for the last 20 years, spoke of growing up in Manhattan with next-door neighbor Paul Simon’s son Harper as his best friend. He said Davis “was not the kind of dad who would throw a ball with you in the backyard, but he was the kind of dad who made sure to take a 13-year-old with him to see Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis, Jr. at the Greek Theater. That did not feel cool to a 13 year old kid — but looking back, how incredibly cool was that?”
He spoke at length of how he seized the opportunity to work with his father on the gala in part because “I thought I could create a bond forged as adults that perhaps may have eluded me as a child,” when his father wasn’t around often. “How blessed was I that I got to be closer to my father in adulthood than I was in childhood?,” adding that his father and Grammy chief Harvey Mason jr. were already planning next year’s party.
He also read a touching tribute from Simon, who is on tour but sent in a lovely speech, which includes this anecdote:
“I remember the great anticipation that Art Garfunkel and I felt as we waited for Clive to hear ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ for the first time. He sat immersed in the music and then turned to us and said, That
may be the most remarkable record I think I ever heard.’ Or maybe I’m misremembering and he said, ‘What else you got?,’” to laughter. “But I think he liked it.”
Doug was followed by an emotional performance from Jennifer Hudson, who was accompanied by the pianist and string quartet for “Hallelujah” — written by Leonard Cohen, signed to Columbia during Davis’ tenure — and then transitioned into “I Will Always Love You,” written by Dolly Parton but transformed into one of the biggest hit single by Whitney Houston. Hudson, choking up, paused several times as she sang the song’s a capella intro, but then delivered a soaring version for the ages.
Alicia Keys walked to the podium and spent a full couple of minutes with her back turned, composing herself before saying “I’m actually not a cryer, so I’m in a strange place.” She addressed Davis directly as she recalled auditioning for him for the first time as a 15-year-old: “You saw something in me that I was only just beginning to see in myself, and that’s a gift I’ll never fully be able to repay, only honor. You didn’t just sign an artist, you recognized a soul. You saw not just the music I’d already made, but the music that was still sleeping inside of me, waiting for someone with the wisdom and courage to call it forward. You called it forward — you called me forward.”
Finally, Bruce Springsteen took the stage. “Clive was big and bombastic and brave and full of ideas and just believed, believed, believed, believed,” he said. “He dressed like a king and he was born to run — everything!”
He went back to 1972, recalling his nerves before auditioning before Davis, which was required before his deal with Columbia could be finalized.
“I tentatively strummed my guitar. I think I played ‘Growing Up’ and ‘up in Saint in the City. Songs that would end up predominantly placed on my first album. And when I finished, Clive, smiling, simply said, ‘Welcome to Columbia Records.’
“And in those few words, he changed my life forever. Forever. Nothing’s been the same since that day. On that day, Clive showed a 22-year-old nobody the same warmth, the same kindness, the same respect that he would show me. After all my success for the next 50 years, nothing ever changed.
He concluded, “He guided the listening public towards so much powerful and inspiring music. And he not only loved music, Clive actually loved the people who made the music, no matter how much of a pain in the ass they were,” he laughed. “And he loved those people deeply and permanently, with his loyalty, He let me know that that was always the way he felt about me. And I loved him back. I never felt nothing but love coming from Clive.”
The ceremony closed with more words and a prayer from the rabbi, and as the attendees slowly filed out, the pianist and string quartet played versions of Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” — which sounds unexpectedly beautiful in a classical arrangement — and Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” complete with an interpretation of Clarence Clemons’ saxophone solo.
It was a fitting farewell to an executive who, as Springsteen said, “changed so many artists’ and performers’ lives.”
