Clive Davis

“My introduction of Whitney was that if there's going to be one performer for the next generation who combined the beauty and lyric phrasing of a Lena Horne with those Gospel fiery roots of an Aretha Franklin, it would be Whitney Houston.”

“The story of Rod Stewart, the story of Carlos Santana is so inspiring to young musicians because it shows in this trendy business how long a career can last. It shows how you can soar back, regardless of age.”

“Having lost both my parents as a teenager, family is so important to me, and I cherish my time with my children and grandchildren. I have four children, and they all became lawyers - as I was myself before I got into music.”

“I know that Kelly Clarkson is going to continue to have an important career. And I believe it will be a lasting one.”

“I feel blessed that I found not just a profession, but a 24/7 way of life that I purely love. That curiosity to be current, to listen to the Hozier album, to be early in recognition of a Lorde and spending time with her and Miguel, the pleasure of seeing new talent erupt... I love it.”

“I am passionate about music and my work to the bottom of my very soul, but I also very much enjoy good clothes and some of the finer things in life. Rappers do, too, and perhaps it's one of the reasons I've been welcomed so warmly into their world.”

“I never paid attention when the LP became the cassette and the cassette became the CD and now we're dealing, you know, with MP3s. It's okay.”

“My 'act' was schoolwork. I was your basic, garden-variety, ambitious, upwardly mobile, hard-working Jewish boy from Brooklyn. I was bound to go beyond my parents. It was simply the way things were.”

“If an artist knows you have respect for their talent - which I have to feel to my core, to sign them - they know that you're in their corner. That doesn't mean you have to be 'mum' on everything; it doesn't mean you can't raise your voice.”

“The subject of bisexuality really needs much more discussion. It's a status that does exist.”

“I did not develop my ear. I discovered I had an ear, and it was an accident.”

“It's not for me to determine what a country artist has in common with a hip-hop artist. You go for those with long-lasting careers. And that's what I've had as my target all my life.”

“The music began, and it was one of those life-changing moments. I saw an artist, Janis Joplin. She was exhilarating. She was vibrating. And she was like no other artist that I had ever seen before... It struck me that hard. Maybe the word is epiphany, when you get that special sensation.”

“To this day, there's nobody, nobody that sounds like Janice Joplin.”

“I'm the keeper of the flame for Whitney Houston. She was the greatest... and I don't want the world to forget that.”

“I feel that contemporary music, with very few exceptions, is missing the voice. You see an award show, you see a hundred extras on set dancing and special effects, and you don't see that solo voice that was the trademark of Adele. It's no accident that it was her album that ended up selling 27 million copies worldwide.”

“After my second marriage failed... I said, 'You know, could I have a relationship with a man? A loving relationship with a man that would involve intimacy?' For a while, before I did get into a relationship, I saw, for a few years, either women or men. And I found that I could be attracted to both.”

“You've got to seize the opportunity if it is presented to you.”

“You see the genius that Whitney Houston has as an interpreter of material, and you realize why genius can be applied to only a few interpretive performers. She finds meaning and depth and soulfulness in a song that often the writer and composer never really knew was there.”

“I'm not into one-hit wonders.”