This documentary covers the life of Clive Davis, the legendary music exec who shaped popular music for over five decades. As head of Columbia Records, Arista, and J Records, he discovered and developed talent including Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys, Santana and most notably, Whitney Houston. Known for his uncanny ear to spot talent, Davis has won multiple Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The doc is filled with stories from seminal moments in music history, like when he saw Big Brother and the Holding Company perform at Monterey Pop Music Festival in 1967. He was dressed in a suit, looking “square” as hell and completely out of place among the long-haired hippies. But he recalled having, “a spine-tingling feeling that I was witnessing a musical, cultural and social revolution” when watching Janis Joplin perform. She was the first musician he signed as the new president for Columbia Records and the rest as they say, is history.

We hear the story of Clive discovering Whitney Houston when she was only 19 years old. And we are taken on the almost 30-year journey they took together that followed, which was filled with a lot of triumph and even more heartbreak.

This is the crux of it for me – how did this dorky lawyer from the East Coast wearing suits, glasses and short hair, have such an ear for music? How did he relate to artists and gain their trust? This mix of business acumen coupled with his unique ability to spot and nurture talent is fascinating to me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.