The longtime friend

My interviews with the people who were at Dove continue!

Meet Clive, who probably knew Dove founder Michael Viner longer than anyone else at Dove and raved about Viner's great ideas. Clive runs record labels, which is how he met Michael way back in the late 1960s.

"I was an independent label (connected to MGM). I ran it. I was in my early 20s," Clive said. "One day, Michael Viner came in. Right away: 'We’re going to beat MGM. Your label and my label will become the biggest labels MGM has.' Michael was brilliant.”

Clive confirmed for me an interesting trait of Michael's: Short interviews.

"The way that he hired people, boom, he would make the decision in 2 minutes. It always shocked me. He would make that decision in a minute. 'Okay, you’re hired. When do you want to start?' He always made decisions right on the nose, good, bad or indifferent."

"If a book becomes a hit, or a bestseller in the publishing business, it’s a big shot in the arm. Michael was always going for that," Clive said.

Isn't that the truth!

More interviews are scheduled, so stay tuned.