Ischia

Clive Davis, the American music producer and recording industry icon who is currently Chief Creative Officer for SONY Music Entertainment, will be presented with the 2012 Ischia Global Film & Music Fest’s rarely bestowed highest honor, the “William Wolton Ischia Legend Award” on the opening night of the 10th annual event.
Zucchero, the GRAMMY®Award-nominated Italian blues singer and one of the best selling artists throughout Europe (who has performed at Royal Albert Hall in London, the Kremlin in Moscow and Carnegie Hall in New York) will present the award to Mr. Davis.
The announcement was made here today by Festival founder and producer Pascal Vicedomini. The Festival will take place from July 8th to the 15th on the isle of Ischia, which is off the coast of Naples, and is presented under the auspices of the Ischia International Arts Academy with the support of International sponsors and Italian public institutions.
The gala, “A Night With A Legend: Clive Davis,” will take place at Ischia’s famous Regina Isabella Resort & Spa on the evening of July 8th and is presented in association with The Recording Academy (NARAS). This is the first Ischia event in which The Recording Academy is involved. It will be attended by an array of performing artists, creative artists and executives from the global music and film industries, as well as by numerous government officials representing Italy and the European Union.
Music industry luminaries honored at past editions of the Festival have included Burt Bacharach, Harry Belafonte, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Julio Iglesias, Andrea Bocelli, Zucchero, David Foster and Jimmy Iovine.
“I am deeply touched by this recognition,” said Clive Davis.  “Music is my life, film is my avocation and Italy is my second home.  I can envision no finer night in no finer site and I really can’t wait for this very special evening.”
In commenting on the announcement Vicedomini stated: “We are honored that Clive Davis, the world’s most influential record industry executive will be joining us in Ischia in July as we celebrate his legendary career. It will be the musical highlight of this year’s Festival. We feel exceptionally close to him, not only because of his passion for music and his support of numerous humanitarian causes, but also because of his longstanding love for Italy.”
Neil Portnow, president of The Recording Academy added: “Clive Davis is not only a music industry icon, but a treasure to the entire world of music. From collaborating with him at The Recording Academy in presenting the annual Pre-GRAMMY Gala, to having worked with and for him years ago at the fabled Arista Records, I know first-hand that he is the consummate professional with unequalled skills in identifying, nurturing, and bringing the finest talent to the world. I’m delighted that he will receive the Ischia Legend Award which is so well-deserved, and look forward to participating in the festivities.”
The following morning, the Festival will present the 2012 GLOBAL MUSIC SYMPOSIUM that will focus on critical issues such as copyright protection and piracy. The workshop will be organized under the auspices of the European Union Commission on Industry (EU vice president Antonio Tajiani will be attending) and the Italian Society of Authors and Editors (S.I.A.E. CEO Gaetano Blandini will be attending).
Joining Vicedomini in overseeing this year’s Ischia Global Film & Music Fest are chairpersons Paula Wagner and Rick Nicita along with President Trudie Styler, Honorary President Tony Renis, and an Executive Board comprised of producers Mark Canton, Marina Cicogna and Aurelio De Laurentiis, multi Oscar-winning production designers Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis, director Joel Schumacher and Italian movie icons Franco Nero, Lina Wertmuller and Enrico Lucherini.
Members of the Festival Board will include Italy’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage for the Campania Region, and the Director General of the Cinema Department of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage.

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ABOUT CLIVE DAVIS:
As the record industry's most innovative, outspoken and influential executive, Clive Davis has had a profound effect on the world of music.  In the first phase of his career, Davis was General Counsel of Columbia Records and was appointed Vice President and General Manager in 1966.  In 1967 he was named President of the company and personally signed Janis Joplin’s Big Brother and The Holding Company to Columbia. After that, he was directly responsible for the signing of many more landmark artists in the rock field, among them Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Santana, Loggins & Messina, Laura Nyro, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and Earth, Wind and Fire.  In addition, he brought to the label such artists as Neil Diamond, Pink Floyd, and The Isley Brothers.

While building the rock roster, Davis also played a key role in the careers of Simon & Garfunkel, Sly & The Family Stone, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand and Andy Williams. Davis figured prominently in shaping career turning points for Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, and he signed Weather Report. Under his aegis, the company made a strong entry into r&b. Davis' deal with Gamble & Huff brought to the company the famed Philadelphia-International label, which had an enormous string of hits and set the course for black music in the '70s.

Davis left Columbia Records in May 1973 and, after writing the book, Clive: Inside The Record Business, a national best-seller in both hard cover and paperback, he founded with Columbia Pictures, Arista Records in the fall of 1974. Only three months after the company opened its doors Barry Manilow’s smash hit “Mandy”, found by and named by Davis, went straight to #1.

Under Davis' leadership, Arista launched the careers of Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, Kenny G and Sarah McLachlan. The label also attracted such important artists as Aretha Franklin, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Lou Reed, Eurythmics, Dionne Warwick, Hall & Oates, and Carly Simon.

Davis founded Arista Nashville in 1988 and it quickly became the talk of the industry with the discovery of  Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn and Brad Paisley. With over 150 major industry awards Arista Nashville set the pace for country music.

Analogous to his agreement with Gamble & Huff in the seventies, Davis made his agreement with L.A. Reid and Babyface to form LaFace Records in October 1989. During this time, LaFace built an outstanding roster of hitmaking artists including TLC, Toni Braxton, Usher, OutKast, and Pink.  In 1994, Davis and producer/entrepreneur Sean “Puffy” Combs entered into a 50/50 joint venture that resulted in the creation of Bad Boy Records with an artist roster that grew to include Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, Mase and of course Puffy Combs. Along with LaFace Records, Bad Boy became the most successful Hip-Hop and Rap label of the ’90s.

Throughout the ‘90s, Arista staked its place in music history time and time again.  The 9x Grammy winning album, Supernatural, sold over 26 million copies worldwide, produced the #1 hits “Smooth” and “Maria Maria”, marked the reunion of Carlos Santana and Clive Davis and the two accepted, as producers, the Grammy for Best Album of The Year.

Also, in 2000, Clive Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the only non-performer. Almost simultaneously, it was announced that he would be the recipient of the Trustees Lifetime Achievement award by NARAS at the Grammy Awards.

In August 2000, Clive Davis began a new phase in his career, announcing the formation of J Records.  The label quickly became the buzz of the industry, beginning with Alicia Keys whose debut album Songs In A Minor sold over 10 million copies and swept the Grammys. J Records emerged as a dominant music force with chart topping albums by Maroon 5, whose debut album sold over 10 million copies worldwide, Annie Lennox, Luther Vandross, Rod Stewart (whose five Great American Songbook Volumes returned him to the top of the charts selling over 18 million copies worldwide with all five volumes being co-produced by Davis), Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis.

Davis' passion for music, though, is matched by a passion for helping his fellow man. The recipient of many Humanitarian honors from organizations such as the T.J. Martell Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Cancer Society, Davis began his tireless efforts in the battle against AIDS in 1985.  And in 1998, Clive Davis was bestowed the Humanitarian Award from the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR).

In 2002, Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and Clive Davis, announced a $5 million gift by Davis to the School for the creation of a new Department of Recorded Music. The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music is the first of its kind to offer a four-year, degree-granting undergraduate program that recognizes the creative producer as an artist in his own right and musical recording itself as a creative medium.

In the year 2008, Clive Davis was appointed Chief Creative Officer for all of Sony Music Entertainment, a change in operational responsibility but an expansion of the artists he would now creatively be responsible for.

In the year 2010, NARAS announced that it will name the prestigious state of the art theater inside the Grammy Museum the “Clive Davis Theater”.  And in the year 2011, New York University awarded an Honorary PhD of Fine Arts to Clive Davis.  Also in 2011, Davis made an additional gift of $5 million to the Tisch School, expanding the Department of Recorded Music into an Institute.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Clive Davis was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of New York University, where he received his B.A. magna cum laude and he graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. He resides in Manhattan with two sons and a daughter residing in the metropolitan area and one son living in Los Angeles.