Clive Davis' Memoir Stirs Backlash from Kelly Clarkson

Clive Davis is well known for his uncanny ability to find and nurture talented artists within the field of music.  He has been responsible for skyrocketing the careers of artists like Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson, and Kelly Clarkson. Last month, Clive Davis released a memoir titled “The Soundtrack of My Life”, which shed light on his 52 years as an artist manager in the music business. A Hollywood Reporter book review says the memoir focuses on his artists’ journey to do things the way they want, rather than listening to everyone else. The memoir received negative attention this past week across entertainment news platforms alike.  Kelly Clarkson claimed that Davis misrepresented her in his book, and she has demanded clarification. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Clarkson took to social media to express her discontent with the alleged falsified information written by Davis.  As a response to Clarkson’s actions, a representative of Davis released a comment stating that Davis verified his chapter on Kelly Clarkson with five independent individuals.  In this article, Clarkson expressed that Davis discouraged her songwriting and personal projects numerous times in private and in public.  Additionally, she says Davis even told her she was a terrible songwriter.  It seemed like a classic case of two different accounts of the same story until Howard Stern, the infamous radio personality, stepped in.

In this article, Howard Stern took to the radio and expressed his disgust for Davis diminishing such a talented artist like Kelly Clarkson.  In addition, he added that music business professionals often diminish talent to depict themselves as artistic geniuses behind the artist.  Fortunately, Kelly Clarkson did not remain quiet about the situation and utilized social media to rally support on the common dispute between artists and their professional staff. Social media has allowed artists to voice their personal concerns inexpensively and effectively.  In just days, Clarkson was able to diminish the accounts of Davis’ “The Soundtrack of My Life”, a work that probably took him several months to complete.