Clive Davis is quietly reasserting his power at Sony Music Entertainment.
Many had assumed the 76-year-old legendary producer was gently being shown the door after an executive suite shuffle in April stripped him of his chairman and CEO role at the BMG Label Group.
However, Davis has turned what was initially perceived as the token title of chief creative officer into a hit-making and face-saving role for artist-development-deprived Sony Music.
He helped break out UK “Pop Idol” winner Leona Lewis in America, where she’s sold 1.1 million albums and 4.2 million downloads of the hit song “Bleeding Love,” according to Nielsen SoundScan.
And this week Oscar winner and former “American Idol” contestant Jennifer Hudson’s 217,000-selling debut, was good enough for No. 2 on the Billboard charts.
Now, according to several sources inside Sony Music, US label group boss Rob Stringer has asked Davis to talk with the heads of Columbia Records and Epic Records about working on projects for some of the artists on their labels.
Davis has met with, and could work on the next albums by, Billy Joel and Harry Connick Jr., sources said.
“Sony is turning to Clive as a resource because there’s no great [artist & repertoire] guys there anymore,” said one source. Indeed, Davis is understood to be interviewing candidates and could potentially get funding to expand his personal A&R staff.
Through a spokesman, Columbia Records Chairman Steve Barnett said, “We’d love to have the opportunity to work with Clive and are discussing various projects.” Calls to Davis’ office were not returned.
Davis’ involvement with Columbia is certain to raise eyebrows given its hiring last year of uber-producer Rick Rubin as co-head of the label. Sources inside and outside Sony Music said the company considers Rubin “unproven” and his tenure a “disappointment.”
Others dispute that, saying Stringer and Barnett enthusiastically back Rubin.
To be sure, Davis has his detractors.
Critics say Davis owes Lewis’ US success to the “Pop Idol” platform and note that he originally passed on Hudson, only grabbing her after she broke big in “Dreamgirls.”
They also predict that Sony Music’s Whitney Houston has become too much of a train wreck for her new album to have any chance at success.
What’s more, critics claim Davis’ results are tied to the marketing and promotion decisions made by BMG Chairman Barry Weiss, which might overstate his contribution.
With Rod Stewart set for a new release, and works by Houston and Kelly Clarkson, Davis has the talent. That, combined with Davis’ trust in the single, not the album, might be just what Sony Music needs in the singles-driven download market.
“Clive’s theory has always been about the song, not the artist or the album,” said Three Rings partner and artist manager Jeff Rabhan.