Influential producer and music mogul Clive Davis has died aged 94

Influential music mogul and record producer Clive Davis has died at the age of 94, his family confirmed in a statement earlier this week.

Davis passed away on Monday, June 22, after being submitted to hospital with respiratory issues. He died while recovering at home in Manhattan, New York.

In a statement, Davis’ family called him a "music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives."

"He discovered, mentored, and championed the greatest artists in modern music history, leaving an indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations," they wrote.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1932, Clive Davis worked his way to a job at Columbia Records aged 28 after graduating from Harvard Law School with little prior music experience.

After joining Columbia, Davis impressed his co-workers by successfully renegotiating Bob Dylan’s contract, and would soon go on to become president of the record label.

With a keen ear and eye for emerging stars, Davis quickly signed the likes of Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, Aerosmith, Santana, and many more in those subsequent years.

In tributes shared after his death, both Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys, who worked with the music executive during his life, credited Davis with changing their lives.

"He believed in me from the very beginning, when I was just 18 years old, and very few saw what I was capable of," Keys wrote. "He has stood beside me through every chapter that followed."

In another tribute, Springsteen wrote: "At 22 years old, he changed my life when he signed me to Columbia Records. He treated me with the same respect and kindness as a 22-year-old nobody as he did after all my success. A great man."

Though he was beloved by many, Davis had a history of being blunt and straight-talking with his protégés, leaving Simon & Garfunkel "aghast" after telling them not to release their soon-to-be-hit ‘Cecilia’ as the lead single of their record ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, and sparking a feud with Kelly Clarkson after calling her a "shitty songwriter" later in the 2000s.

Davis was also accused of misusing company funds when working for Columbia, allegedly bribing radio stations to play his artists’ songs and creating false expense reports, and was ultimately fired in 1973.

After being let go from Columbia, Davis went on to found his own record label, Arista, where he signed Aretha Franklin and launched a joint venture with Bad Boy Records and disgraced media mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Davis won four GRAMMY Awards as a producer for his work alongside Jennifer Hudson, Santana, and Kelly Clarkson. He was nominated for another in 2009 for his work on Leona Lewis’ ‘Bleeding Love’.

Read some tributes below.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor