Record producer Clive Davis has sold his memoir to Simon & Schuster. Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor brokered the North American rights deal, closing at auction, with S&S publisher Jonathan Karp. Davis will be writing the book (which is his second, after Clive: Inside The Record Business) with music journalist Anthony DeCurtis, and publication is planned for February 2013.
Davis overcame a childhood distinguished by adversity (he was an orphan) to become one of the best known producers in the record business. His career launched when he signed Janis Joplin at the Monterey Pop Festival and, as S&S said in its release, continued with him championing a series of rock and pop legends ranging from Bruce Springsteen to The Grateful Dead to Whitney Houston. S&S elaborated, saying: "His is the imprimatur that has helped shape contemporary music and our popular culture for the last 45 years."
S&S said the book will shed light on a number of history-making moments in music history, as well as Davis's relationship with Houston (whose career he is often credited with launching). Among the moments the book will explore: how Davis convinced Simon & Garfunkel to do the soundtrack to The Graduate; how Davis persuaded Bob Dylan to release "Lay Lady Lay" as a single off the album Nashville Skyline; and how Davis convinced Springsteen to rework his initial stab at the album Greetings From Asbury Park, to add more potential hit singles to it.
Karp said that there was "a unanimous opinion within Simon & Schuster that we had to publish this author" since "no one has had a life, or a career, quite like the one described by Clive Davis."
