Clive Davis comes out of the closet
Clive Davis is one of music’s most recognized moguls, having played an important part in the careers of superstars ranging from Janis Joplin to Sly & the Family Stone to Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. In his new memoir, the man behind the music drops a bombshell and reveals that he’s bisexual.
Davis’ memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life, shares stories from throughout his career, detailing his experiences with Houston, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and, for the first time, his bisexuality. He’s married and divorced two times, but has never addressed his sexuality publicly. He writes of his first sexual encounters with men (it began during the disco era) and shares his first gay experience.
“On this night, after imbibing enough alcohol, I was open to responding to his sexual overtures,” writes Davis. He describes sex with a man as “welcome relief.”
After divorcing his second wife in 1985, he writes of having relationships with two women and a man at roughly the same time, until 1990 when he began a monogamous relationship with a male doctor. They were together for 14 years, and Davis has been with a different man since that relationship ended.
He acknowledges in the book that his sexuality led to issues between he and his son, Mitchell. The two have reconciled in recent years.
The book also details his concern over Whitney Houston’s drug abuse and his feud with Kelly Clarkson concerning the direction of her 2007 album My December and his launch of J Records following his dismissal from Arista in 1999.
–stereo williams
