After being effectively demoted from his CEO position at BMG last spring, Clive Davis is now leading hit-making efforts at the newly reconstituted Sony Music Entertainment. New York Post : He helped break out UK "Pop Idol" winner Leona Lewis in America, where she's sold 1.1 million albums and 4.2 million downloads of the hit song "Bleeding Love," according to Nielsen SoundScan. And this week Oscar winner and former "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson's 217,000-selling debut, was good enough for No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Let's hope that album continues to do well because Hudson's movie agent just got fired. Now, according to several sources inside Sony Music, US label group boss Rob Stringer has asked Davis to talk with the heads of Columbia Records and Epic Records about working on projects for some of the artists on their labels. Evidently all those convenient appearances on "The Hills" aren't helping as much as Sony would like. The Post adds that Davis might be building his own A&R staff and could be working on new albums from Billy Joel and Harry Connick Jr. Meanwhile, his longtime protege Whitney Houston might not be able to make a comeback with her new disc. Plus, Davis' focus on hit singles could help in the download-era, the paper says. Meanwhile, over at rival label Universal Music Group, CEO Doug Morris just signed a new longterm deal and is close to bringing in legendary talent-spotter Jason Flom to work A& ...
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