[The Record Breaker, continued]

After writing a best-selling autobiography, Davis eventually pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion--not because he did anything wrong, Davis said, but in order to spare himself and his four children from a highly publicized trial. Plus, he wanted to devote his time to the launching of a new company: a label he named after his secondary school honor society, Arista Records.

* * *

Clive Davis is listening to Dido Armstrong sing in a hotel room in London. It is 1997; she had been lead vocalist for a British band and is trying to launch a solo career. Almost no one in America knows her name. Until Davis listens.

In fall 2000, blocks away from Davis' penthouse in Manhattan, a music superstore adorns its windows with a larger-than-life poster of Dido Armstrong. Her debut album, No Angel, has gone gold.

This is what Clive Davis likes best about his job.

"Certainly that first appraisal, to be able to spot a unique talent and say yes," he said. "And then to see that artist become a worldwide success. There's a lot of steps in between, you know. So it's hard to leave out the process. But the discovery is the most exciting."

He has done the same for Whitney Houston, 19 when he saw her for the first time performing in a club; Barry Manilow, an unknown opening for Dionne Warwick; and Bruce Springsteen, who played for Davis in his office before playing in any arena. They, and other artists he has signed and cultivated over the years, differ in musical style but share one important attribute, he said.

"You look for stars. You look for the makeup of [artists] who can have long-lasting careers and who could be headliners," said Davis. "At the 25th-anniversary show of Arista, you would go from Santana to Barry Manilow to Sarah McLachlan to Annie Lennox to Puffy [Combs] to Aretha Franklin to Whitney Houston and Patti Smith. And the common thread is that they're stars and each one would come out and take the audience off its feet."

More stars are out there, people whose names nobody knows--for now. Clive Davis knows he's going to find them.

  back | 4 of 4