The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at Tisch School of the Arts and music and technology networking organization Sound CTRL, in conjunction with event sponsors Billboard and Pepsi, are happy to co-present a special evening with music industry legend Clive Davis, commemorating Arista Records’ 35th Anniversary.

Through Arista Records, Clive Davis launched or helped catapult the careers of world renowned artists, including Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Babyface, and Sean “Puffy” Combs.

Jason King, Artistic Director of NYU’s The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, says: “I wanted to reach out to Mr. Davis to come in and talk directly to students about his success in this anniversary year. While music executives come and go, Clive Davis has made a profound, lasting impact on the industry. He’s a continual inspiration to our students.”

After more than four decades in the music industry Davis, who now serves as Chief Creative Officer at Sony Music Entertainment and helmed the recent Whitney Houston comeback album I Look to You, has remained at the top of his game. He is one of only a few music executives who are able to successfully keep up with the changing pace of this industry and consistently create hit artists and hit songs for a turbulent marketplace.

Bill Werde, editor and chief of Billboard magazine, will be interviewing Davis exclusively about his passion for music and why he has chosen to speak at this event.

“In order to create a successful and innovative future in music we need to fully understand the past. We are delighted to be able to present Clive Davis, one of the most successful music men in the history of the recorded music business. This promises to be one of music’s most remembered conversations for the SoundCtrl community” Jesse Kirshbaum, SoundCtrl co-founder.

This private event is only open to NYU students, faculty and staff and Sound CTRL invited guests.

We’ve always been proud as an NYU department to bear the name of our principal patron and Sony Music Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Clive Davis.

This week we’re exponentially proud as Whitney Houston’s brand new I Look to You album – which Mr. Davis co-executive produced – hit the top spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 Albums chart, selling 305,000 copies.

Whitney’s albums, taken as a whole, have spent forty-six weeks at #1 on the same chart: an all-time record for any female artist.

Congrats also goes out to I Look to You’s co-executive-producer Larry Jackson, Senior VP A&R at RCA Music Group – Larry’s been a terrific guest lecturer in our department; most recently he came by to drop some wisdom on Professor Jonathan Fine’s students in our A&R class.