Record executive and star-maker Clive Davis, the man behind iconic performers like Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys and of course, Whitney Houston has come out as bisexual in his new memoir The Soundtrack of My Life.
"After my second marriage failed, I met a man who was also grounded in music. Having only had loving relationships and sexual intimacy with women, I opened myself up to the possibility that I could have that with a male, and found that I could," Davis writes in the memoir, which also details a dalliance with a man during the heyday of Studio 54, a long-term relationship with a doctor, and how the revelation of his sexuality led a strained relationship with one of his children.
Davis, who is currently in a relationship with man, also writes "I never stopped being attracted to women. Bisexuality is misunderstood; the adage is that you're either straight or gay or lying, but that's not my experience. To call me anything other than bisexual would be inaccurate."
The Soundtrack of My Life also details his days at Columbia Records, interactions with rock legends Bruce Springsteen, and his ousting from Arista. As for Whitney, an entire chapter is devoted to his work with the late diva, including recounts of early collaborations, his fear of her doing The Bodyguard and a one-on-one intervention Davis had with the singer at his New York home when her drug problems worsened.
If Whitney was indeed "family," Davis's revelation certainly adds a new perspective on their relationship, as well as the dynamics that had to have existed between he, Cissy, and Robin Crawford, Houston's friend and long-time personal assistant. And it may be a little unfair, but Clive's coming out also makes me shoot Cissy the side-eye (again), because as someone who was very active in the music industry, she had to know of, or at least have heard about, Clive's sexuality. Not something she would "condone" but was perfectly willing to let a bisexual man have near total control over and guide her possibly lesbian daughter's superstar career. Hmmmm.
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