Harvard alum Clive Davis comes out of the closet in new memoir
Sony Music Entertainment chief creative officer Clive Davis posing for a portrait in New York. Davis’s memoir "The Soundtrack of My Life" came out this week. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)
There’s a lot we’re learning about Clive Davis in his new memoir, “The Soundtrack of My Life,” and not just about his sex life. Yes, the 80-year-old music mogul reveals that he’s bisexual — sex with a man “provided welcome relief” after two marriages, he writes — but we’re also surprised to learn that Davis is a Harvard man. Who knew that the guy who signed or discovered Whitney Houston, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, and the Grateful Dead graduated from Harvard Law School in 1956? And he almost dropped out. In an interview with the Harvard Bulletin a decade ago, Davis confessed that he felt like a fish out of water at the World’s Greatest University. “I had so many adjustments at the time, it was hard to single one out,” said Davis, who was a Jewish kid from a working-class family in Brooklyn. “This change was magnified by the campus of Harvard and the different nature of the student body.” But he hung around and the rest is history.
About this blog
Mark Shanahan joined The Boston Globe in
2003, having worked previously at the Portland Press Herald, where he
covered City Hall, and the Lewiston Sun-Journal, where he was the
education reporter. A Northampton native and graduate of Bates College,
Shanahan enjoys the usual - books, music, movies, etc. - as well as the
unusual. shanahan@globe.com
Follow on Twitter: @GlobeNames, @MarkAShanahan
Meredith Goldstein has worked for the Globe since 2003, covering
everything from nightlife to New Kids. She keeps her eyes peeled for
celebrity juice, and also writes Love Letters, a Boston.com blog for
hopeful (and hopeless) romantics. Meredith chats about love problems
every Wednesday at 1 p.m. If you see Justin Timberlake or someone like
him at a local eatery, please e-mail her immediately. mgoldstein@globe.com
Follow on Twitter: @GlobeNames, @MeredithGoldste
- Doug Most is the Deputy Managing Editor/Features. dmost@globe.com
- Hayley Kaufman is the senior Living/Page One features editor. hkaufman@globe.com
- Additional contributors include the Boston.com sports and A&E staff
