{"id":281924,"date":"2026-06-30T02:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T02:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/281924\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T02:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T02:24:20","slug":"clive-davis-nyc-funeral-draws-a-listers-bruce-springsteen-alicia-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/281924\/","title":{"rendered":"Clive Davis’ NYC funeral draws A-listers Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Musical icons came out in full force Monday<\/a> to pay tribute to the late great mogul Clive Davis \u2014 including a devastated Alicia Keys who wept through her speech at an Upper East Side synagogue.<\/p>\n

Keys, whom Davis helped launch into stardom, was in tears and had to borrow someone\u2019s handkerchief as she approached the podium at Central Synagogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually not a crier. I\u2019m in a strange place,\u201d the \u201cEmpire State of Mind\u201d crooner told the crowd, before telling the story of when she first met Davis when she was just 15 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen reflected on the industry kingmaker who helped launch his career during an emotional tribute at the funeral. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw something in me that I was just beginning to see in myself,\u201d she read in an emotional letter to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, Ja Rule and Stevie Wonder were among the other A-list musicians who attended the private service \u2013 where Kenny G delivered a somber sax solo, Jennifer Hudson gave a powerful performance and Bruce Springsteen reflected on the industry kingmaker who helped launch his career.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Davis \u2013 the iconic music mogul responsible for the monumental careers of Whitney Houston<\/a>, Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, Kelly Clarkson and countless others \u2013 died peacefully from an age-related illness <\/a>at his Manhattan home last Monday, his family told Page Six.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was 94.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Adrien Brody, Hoda Kotb and Gayle King were also among the notable figures who turned out to honor Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis \u2013 a record company lawyer who rose to become one of the most influential figures in modern music history<\/a> \u2013 would have been thrilled by the star-studded farewell, Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl told mourners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A devastated Alicia Keys was in tears and had to borrow someone\u2019s handkerchief as she approached the podium to give a speech at the funeral.\u00a0 AP Photo\/Adam Gray<\/p>\n

\u201cClive would have loved this,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Springsteen called Davis \u201cbig, bombastic and brave\u201d during an emotional tribute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was born to run everything,\u201d quipped The Boss, who recalled his first meeting with Davis during an audition in 1979, when he was just 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to hear you,\u201d Davis said at the start of the meeting, Springsteen recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the audition, the executive simply said: \u201cWelcome to Columbia Records.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn those few words, he changed my life forever,\u201d Springsteen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clive Davis \u2013 the iconic music mogul responsible for the monumental careers of Whitney Houston, Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, Kelly Clarkson and countless others \u2013 died at age 94 last week. FilmMagic<\/p>\n

Hoda Kotb was also among the notable figures who turned out to honor Davis.\u00a0 AP Photo\/Adam Gray<\/p>\n

Other music legends shared similar stories of Davis\u2019 uncanny ability to spot talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warwick recalled initially resisting Davis\u2019 suggestion that she work with Manilow in the 1970s \u2013 a partnership that ultimately led to the iconic album \u201cDionne,\u201d which went platinum and earned two Grammy Awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manilow, meanwhile, recounted how Davis urged him to record the Scott English and Richard Kerr rock track \u201cBrandy\u201d \u2013 and then helped transform it into the smash hit \u201cMandy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe believed in me from the very beginning,\u201d the legend said of Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis was also responsible for breathing new life into the careers<\/a> of established artists including Aretha Franklin and Santana.<\/p>\n

The private service at the Central Synagogue in the Upper East Side. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Davis is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hudson sang Leonard Cohen\u2019s hit song, \u201cHallelujah,\u201d and then grew teary-eyed as she transitioned to Houston\u2019s \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love you, Clive\u201d she said, as the crowd jumped to their feet for a standing ovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n

With Post Wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Musical icons came out in full force Monday to pay tribute to the late great mogul Clive Davis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28627,11955,394,97089,10690,15241,9,56,63,65,64,9500,58],"class_list":["post-281924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-alicia-keys","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-clive-davis","tag-funerals","tag-musicians","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-synagogues","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}