ARETHA WOWS ON TRIBECA’S OPENING NIGHT
Songs, film honor legacy of Clive Davis — and Whitney
No one throws a party quite NEW YORK like Clive Davis.
The influential record executive’s annual pre- Grammys galas have become the stuff of legend, bringing a who’s who of music icons and popular young artists together under one roof to perform and swap stories. So it’s fitting that the premiere of a new documentary about his illustrious career, Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, would follow suit, with a star- studded concert at Radio City Music Hall featuring Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kenny G, Carly Simon, Dionne Warwick and Jennifer Hudson.
Among the highlights of Wednesday’s event, which opened the Tribeca Film Festival:
ARETHA FRANKLIN FIGHTS ILLNESS IN SHORT- BUT- SWEET PERFORMANCE.
Many music fans were devastated when the Queen of Soul announced in February that “this will be my last year in concert,” although she plans to release one more album. It only made her rare appearance at Tribeca more special, as she came to celebrate her “chieftain” Davis, who helped revive her career in the early 1980s.
“I’m sure like many of you all, I’ve been fighting an upper respiratory viral infection, so you’ll forgive me if I miss a few notes here and there, and a little shortness of breath,” Franklin, dressed in a flowing white gown, announced. “But I wasn’t going to miss this evening.” That she was feeling under the weather was hardly noticeable, as the 75- year- old powerhouse closed the night with rousing renditions of top- 10 hits ( You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and Freeway of Love.
JENNIFER HUDSON BLOWS THE ROOF OFF WITH WHITNEY HOUSTON MEDLEY.
The post- screening concert ran roughly an hour and a half, with Whoopi Goldberg on hand to tell jokes and stress the importance of arts funding between sets. Some of the night’s most memorable performances included Carly Simon, who enlisted schoolchildren to help her sing Itsy Bitsy Spider; Earth, Wind & Fire, who brought out jazz musician Kenny G for a surprise saxophone solo on The Way You Move; and Hudson, who paid tribute to Leonard Cohen with a stirring Hallelujah and Houston with a joyous medley of songs including I’m Every Woman and I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
HOUSTON IS COMMEMORATED IN THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES.
In his five- decade run as a label executive, Davis has helped launch the careers of Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Patti Smith, Maroon 5, Alicia Keys, Sean “Puffy” Combs, and yes, even Milli Vanilli.
All of whom appear in performances and interviews throughout the perhaps too- adulatory film, which will be available exclusively on Apple Music.
Although Soundtrack sometimes drags at two hours, it’s an eye- opening musical time capsule that hits its emotional crescendo with the late Houston, whom Davis discovered when she was just a teenager. The documentary offers a fascinating look at their father- daughter- like relationship.
The film also sheds light on Houston’s drug abuse, about which Davis was long in denial until he tried to stage an intervention.
The film ends with Houston’s death in 2012. The pre- Grammy event went on, as Davis united the music community to mourn an icon he called “the greatest singer in the world.”