One more celebration of Clive Davis’s 90th birthday: a talk with Pete Ganbarg on his podcast, “Rock and Roll High School.” (The podcast goes live Thursday.)
Listen below as Clive describes why albums need hit singles, even if they’re great album tracks that make the transition. He was always the man with the Golden Ears, and Pete has been following in his footsteps.
Pete — who has two Grammy Awards — was mentored by Clive at J Records. These days he’s President of A&R for Atlantic Records as well as President of ATCO Records, a division of Atlantic. He’s scored hit after hit and proved to be prescient with the release of “Hamilton,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” and “The Greatest Showman” soundtracks. It was Pete who put together “Smooth” with Santana and Rob Thomas. At RCA, he was responsible for Kelly Clarkson’s career and her many hits.
Pete says: “It’s been an honor and absolute thrill to sit down with each of these incredibly influential and uniquely talented individuals and really dive deep into their remarkable careers. I’m personally such a fan and I am excited to bring these conversations to more fans around the world. Everyone recognizes these superstars and their hits which have defined generations, but now we get to pull back the curtain and take a closer, more intimate look at the stories behind the music.”
His podcast has already scored great interviews with with Kenny Loggins, Tommy James, Sam Moore, and Cousin Brucie. You can listen to them HERE.
