NEW YORK (NARM announcement) - One of the recording industry's most innovative, outspoken, and influential executives, Clive Davis, Chairman & CEO of BMG North America, will be the Keynote speaker at InSights & Sounds.04, the 46th Annual Convention of the
National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM). Adding a new twist to the old Keynote format, Billboard's
Director of Charts & Senior Analyst Geoff Mayfield will query the inimitable Davis in a one-on-one interview during the Business Session & Annual Meeting.
"We are extremely pleased and honored to have Clive provide first-hand insight into what has made his career one of the longest and most enduring in the face of major cultural and music industry changes," says NARM Acting President Jim Donio.
Davis started his career in the music industry as General Counsel of Columbia Records in the 60s, and eventually became President. The Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967 confirmed his belief that Rock music was a powerful new force as the artistic expression of an emerging culture. He personally signed Janis Joplin's Big Brother and The Holding Company to Columbia, and the list of his achievements in terms of both artist and business development in the more than 30 years since is breathtaking:
After he left Columbia Records in May 1973, he founded Arista Records in the fall of 1974, then Arista's Nashville division in 1988, LaFace Records in 1989, and Bad Boy Records in 1994. In August 2000, he began a new phase in his career by unveiling J Records. In early 2003, BMG named him Chairman/CEO of the RCA Music Group, comprised of the legendary RCA label and the hot J Records. At the beginning of 2004, as a culmination of success after success, Davis was named Chairman & CEO of BMG North America. After realigning the labels, Davis now oversees an expanded RCA Music Group, which includes J Records, RCA Records and Arista Records as well as the newly formed Zomba Label Group, which includes Jive Records, LaFace Records and So So Def Records.
And just look at some of the artists represented by those more than 30 years of achievement: Chicago, Santana, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfunkel, Earth Wind & Fire, Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Sarah McLachlan, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Usher, OutKast, Notorious B.I.G., Puffy Combs, Alicia Keys, Luther Vandross, Maroon 5, Annie Lennox, Rod Stewart, and, most recently, American Idol's Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, and Ruben Studdard. They are not only huge superstars, but the artists who defined both the music and the culture. And Clive Davis had a hand in it all.
Music industry executive, lawyer, best-selling author, 2000 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, "Best Album" Grammy winner (for co-producing Santana's "Supernatural"), NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and the recipient of numerous humanitarian honors, Davis promises to make this year's Keynote hour a memorable one.
