Wyclef Jean Starts New Label With Clive Davis

Wyclef Jean inked a joint venture deal with Clive Davis' new J Records this week to record and distribute material on his own label, Clef Records. Jean will lord over Clef Records, signing and producing all new talent.

This won't be the first time the two have joined forces to produce music. While Davis headed Arista, Jean co-wrote and produced songs for two Grammy-winning artists on the label -- Santana's "Maria, Maria" and Whitney Houston's "My Love Is Your Love." Clef Records is the first creative partnership, though, that Davis has initiated under J Records.

"Wyclef is one of the premier creative talents of our time," Davis said in a statement. "He is also one of the few artists who can be a great entrepreneur as well, sensing the cutting edge and the outer frontiers of music and knowing which discovery can become a lasting star."

Which is precisely what Wyclef says he hopes to do in this new venture. Searching for something to "challenge what's out there," he says no genre is off-limits for the talent he intends to seek out. His only criteria, he says, is that the music be innovating. "I'm searching for all forms of music out there," Wyclef says. "But I don't see no more Billie Holidays, no more Marvin Gayes, no more Smokey Robinsons. I don't even see no more Nirvanas. It could be rock, hip hop, soul, just as long as it's not depending on what everyone else is doing."

J Records' earliest releases are expected at the beginning of next month, with Wyclef signing and releasing new artists on Clef Records as early as the beginning of next year.

GABRIELLE SCHAFER and JENNIFER VINEYARD
(September 23, 2000)