Clive Davis Quotes

The subject of bisexuality really needs much more discussion. It's a status that does exist.

I am passionate about music and my work to the bottom of my very soul, but I also very much enjoy good clothes and some of the finer things in life. Rappers do, too, and perhaps it's one of the reasons I've been welcomed so warmly into their world.

After my second marriage failed ... I said, 'You know, could I have a relationship with a man? A loving relationship with a man that would involve intimacy?' For a while, before I did get into a relationship, I saw, for a few years, either women or men. And I found that I could be attracted to both.

The music began, and it was one of those life-changing moments. I saw an artist, Janis Joplin. She was exhilarating. She was vibrating. And she was like no other artist that I had ever seen before ... It struck me that hard. Maybe the word is epiphany, when you get that special sensation.

You don't have favorites among your offspring, and you don't among the artists you're involved with, but clearly among my most favorite was Patti Smith.

You see the genius that Whitney Houston has as an interpreter of material, and you realize why genius can be applied to only a few interpretive performers. She finds meaning and depth and soulfulness in a song that often the writer and composer never really knew was there.

Watching artists like Joplin perform, I felt that tingle down my spine; I experienced the wonders of a cultural and musical revolution.

The purity of finding the right artist, that artist that's gonna be the next hall of famer, that artist that's gonna be the next headliner, lifting people out of their seats at Madison Square Garden, that song that's gonna be sung for hundreds and hundreds of years, that essence remains the same.

My 'act' was schoolwork. I was your basic, garden-variety, ambitious, upwardly mobile, hard-working Jewish boy from Brooklyn. I was bound to go beyond my parents. It was simply the way things were.

You look for stars. You look for the makeup of artists who can have long lasting careers and who could be headliners.

It seemed like an impossible task to do full justice to all Luther classics. And yet these landmark artists have done just that. Memorable performances of wonderful songs that ensure Luther's legacy will live on forever.

There's no way that music could ever go down the tubes. I can't imagine a civilization without music. When you realize today that music is such a part of people's lives. And will always be, really.

There will come a time when very few will care about other people's sexual preference - or preferences.

If an artist knows you have respect for their talent - which I have to feel to my core, to sign them - they know that you're in their corner. That doesn't mean you have to be 'mum' on everything; it doesn't mean you can't raise your voice.

I'm the keeper of the flame for Whitney Houston. She was the greatest ... and I don't want the world to forget that.

It is only occasional that talent becomes genius - radiating sparks, brilliance, energy, and charismatic magnetism ... such a talent was Janis Joplin.

I have total respect for the self-contained rock artist. Whether you're dealing with Jerry Garcia or Lou Reed or Patti Smith or a Whitney or an Aretha, they know what they want with their career.

You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you.

I know that Kelly Clarkson is going to continue to have an important career. And I believe it will be a lasting one.

The adage that you're either gay or straight or you're lying, well, that's not true. Bisexuality does exist.

This was work (music industry) but it was the awakening to what was to become a life's passion.

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.

I would say, from an all-around point of view, Bruce Springsteen is one of the two great poet lords of America, Bob Dylan, coming out of the music world, the two of them.

I had no idea that I was ever getting into music. I did not prepare for a music career, and here I've found, out of pure luck, that I did have, not only a talent and an ear, but a passion for music. And I have it to this day.

I encourage the study of music. And the immersion. 'Cause my life has been so enriched by being involved in music as I have.

Having lost both my parents as a teenager, family is so important to me, and I cherish my time with my children and grandchildren. I have four children, and they all became lawyers - as I was myself before I got into music.