Apple Music drops Clive Davis documentary teaser

Apple Music has posted a trailer that teases its exclusive Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives documentary, announcing that it makes its premiere on October 3.

The Chris Perkel-directed movie is based on the music mogul’s 2013 autobiography, and if the trailer is anything to go by, there is nothing but praise for the industry icon.

“The greatest record man of all time” according to Aretha Franklin.

“The man I wanted to be if I ever became successful,” reveals Simon Fuller. 

More than his legendary ego, huge spending, ambition and devotion to his artists, the diversity of Davis’ signings is staggering.

They range from the cool sax of Kenny G to the rock curating of Bruce Springsteen to the great divas like Aretha and Whitney, to blues mama Janis Joplin (who is rumoured to have offered to bed him as a thank you for signing her), and the jazz innovators Miles Davis and Gil Scott-Heron.

The one-time New York lawyer nicknamed “Golden Ears”, whose personal fortune is valued at $850 million, survived through the years – put aside a few sackings and accusations of over spending, bribing DJs to play his records and fraud – because of his ability to recognise new underground sounds.

He was tapping into Latino rock by signing Carlos Santana long before it became fashionable, while Puff Daddy says Davis was the first major white exec to take hip hop seriously.

Davis himself sums up his success story in the trailer: “It’s all about, Is the song good enough?”

It’s not known why it’s taken so long for Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives to come to Apple Music, given it was reported to have bought its rights in April, the same month that it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

A tribute concert including Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow was held around that time. 

The movie, by switching from black and white archival footage to current interviews with the superstars, lives up to its name - tracing the remarkable transformation of rock music in the mid-60s from frothy white pop shaped for radio to a music that was radical and challenged the norms of society. 

The saddest aspect is when he launches Whitney Houston on late night TV, all full of promise and glorious talent after spotting her as a teenager in a New York supper club, only to deal with her public and financial downfall.

Apple Music’s move into original content also sees it take on other music films as Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour Live, the hustler-turned-mastermind series The Score, and Sean Combs hip-hop documentary Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.