Not only is Clive Davis a part of the furniture in the music business, he’s also a New York City institution.
The 85-year-old music mogul, who has been key to the success of acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys, was born in Brooklyn and now splits his time between homes in New York City and Westchester.
Ahead of the new biographical documentary “Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives” (which comes to Apple Music on Tuesday), he tells Hardeep Phull how he likes to spend his weekends in the New York area.
Sometimes on the weekends, I go to my home in Pound Ridge. I still take home records that are new and are in the charts. I worry about going over the hill, so I like to keep my ears fresh.
I have a special room there for listening to music; I’ve really been enjoying the new Taylor Swift song, Kendrick Lamar, and Ed Sheeran, who has managed to have success in a time when hip-hop and dance is dominant.
Over the last few months, I’ve been to Madison Square Garden a couple of times — once for Billy Joel and another time for Earth Wind & Fire, who kindly talked about how I signed them during the show, and shone a spotlight on me.
I’ve been so many times over the years, but my favorite memory of the Garden was when Janis Joplin played there in 1969. She went to the mike during the second encore and said she had to end the show, shower and change, because I was throwing her an elegant dress-up after-party for her at my apartment. We had black-tie waiters. I invited Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Laura Nyro, Tony Bennett, and they all came!
I grew up with the Jewish tradition of having Chinese food on a Sunday. I never even knew Chinese restaurants were open during the week! I still do that with my four kids, at Mr. Chow’s or Shun Lee East and West. I get a variety of dishes, but I still start with either wonton soup or egg drop soup.
I grew up as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, but when I was head of Columbia Records [in the early 1970s], the parent company, CBS, bought the New York Yankees. So we had access to tickets, and both my family and I became big Yankees fans.
It’s hard to catch a game during the week because I’m always at the office late, but I always try to catch a game on the weekend. I’ll take one or two of my adult grandchildren to the game. They now have special restaurants at Yankee Stadium now, but I absolutely insist on having a hot dog on my plate, for old time’s sake!