Clive Davis and Mark Ronson Share Stories and Counsel at NYU Screening
Iris Cantor Theatre, New York — November 18, 2025
New York University’s reputation as a leading music-business incubator was on full display on the evening of November 18, 2025, when students, educators and industry figures gathered at the Iris Cantor Theatre for an exclusive screening and conversation with Clive Davis and Mark Ronson.
The event featured a previously unreleased film—more a visual mixtape than a conventional documentary—chronicling Davis’s decades-long influence on popular music. Do You Remember?, produced by Mark Ronson alongside Erich Bergen and DJ Earworm and first shown at Davis’s 90th birthday celebration, concluded with a live Q&A moderated by music writer Anthony DeCurtis.
Both Davis and Ronson have recently published memoirs (Ronson’s Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City arrived earlier this year), yet the evening delivered fresh anecdotes and insights that surprised many in the audience. Students left impressed by the sheer scope of careers touched by Davis—spanning soul, rock, pop and beyond.
Davis’s career is notable not only for the number of superstars he supported, but for his refusal to be pigeonholed. He moved fluidly between genres, championing artists as varied as Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Patti Smith, Whitney Houston, TLC, Brooks & Dunn and Kenny G at different points in his tenure.
Guided by DeCurtis—who collaborated with Davis on his memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life—Davis recounted intimate moments from his career: a brisk evening at a Manhattan restaurant where Aretha Franklin’s entourage ran up an eye‑watering bill, and a chance encounter with John Lennon, who told Davis he knew who he was because he read Billboard. Lennon also suggested he didn’t need to chase radio trends to make art, likening the creative impulse to a painter who doesn’t follow gallery fashions.
Ronson offered candid advice to aspiring musicians: his breakthrough came after he stopped pursuing trends and began making music that felt authentic to him. He also emphasized humility in collaboration—recognizing when another writer’s idea improves the song is often the right move.
The conversation naturally touched on Whitney Houston, whom Davis discovered and guided for much of her life until her death in 2012. When Houston asked whether she should try co‑writing—pointing to peers like Madonna and Janet Jackson—Davis set a high standard, invoking the benchmark of a landmark song such as “The Greatest Love of All.” After that exchange, Houston reportedly never raised the subject again.
Across anecdotes and career lessons, a clear theme emerged: longevity in music requires both conviction and flexibility. Whether advocating for an artist or accepting a creative loss, Davis and Ronson demonstrated that resilience and taste can turn setbacks into lasting success.
