Clive Davis Recalls Aretha Franklin Asking Him ‘Could I Have Hits Again?’ at Nearly 40
Davis listed the various hit songs they worked on together, including “Freeway of Love,” “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” and “A Rose Is Still a Rose.”
“We got back our Queen of Soul, the great Aretha Franklin,” Davis said.
Davis has won five Grammy Awards over the course of his career. The producer has held positions at several major music labels, including Columbia Records, RCA Music Group and BMG. In addition to Franklin, whom he signed to Arista Records in 1980, he worked with Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd and Barry Manilow.
The Apollo Spring Benefit 2025, hosted by Kym Whitley, brought out many music icons. Davis, an inductee, also received the Legacy Award recipient, while Teyana Taylor was the recipient of the Inaugural Innovator Award. Method Man, Larry Jackson, Babyface, Busta Rhymes and Deborah Cox were among the attendees.
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The theater’s annual fundraiser is described as “a spectacular celebration of the theater’s rich legacy and its commitment to its future as a mission-led arts and cultural organization, a community anchor and an economic driver for Harlem and New York City.”
Davis mourned Franklin after her death in August 2018 at age 76.
“I’m absolutely devastated by Aretha’s passing. She was truly one of a kind. She was more than the Queen of Soul. She was a national treasure to be cherished by every generation throughout the world,” he wrote on X. “Apart from our long professional relationship, Aretha was my friend. Her loss is deeply profound and my heart is full of sadness.”
In 2022, Davis hosted the Paramount+ miniseries Clive Davis: Most Iconic Performances and looked back at the legendary artists he helped shape.
“Boy, do I remember the phone call I got from Aretha. She asked me to have dinner with her. I never knew her, but she was already the Queen of Soul,” he said at the time.
