SMITH TO FOLLOW DAVIS
OUT OF ARISTA

Patti Smith said she will follow mentor clive davis',390,400);">clive davis',390,400);">Clive Davis out the door of Arista Records.

After eight albums, beginning with "Horses" in 1975, Smith said she's leaving the label this summer, along with Davis, 66, who is being replaced as president and CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid, according to Wall of Sound.

"I began with Clive, and I'm ending with Clive," said Smith. "We started and ended at Arista together. It's one of those beautiful ironies."

Smith thinks Davis got a raw deal, being ousted after a year in which he achieved record sales and profits.

"It's not my kind of label," she said. "I'm on the label, but it doesn't reflect my personal choices. I've sort of been their maverick artist. I've existed on Arista within the patronage wing of Clive. I don't sell a lot of records. I think I've done strong albums. He's allowed me to do my work on my own terms. That's all I wanted."

Smith says Arista doesn't "do things the way I would do them. I can't say they really ever understood me. They've never tampered with my work; that's the most important thing to me. The other thing is that it was an eight-album contract, and I believe I gave them my strongest record at the end. I didn't give them a piece of schlock just to get off the label."

Smith hasn't talked to Davis since Arista announced that Reid would be stepping in two weeks ago, so she doesn't know his—or her—plans.