Clive Davis and Whitney Houston (Photo: David LaChapelle)

Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives is being distributed exclusively through Apple Music, Davis announced on the eve of the film’s April 20 premiere at the 16th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, where it provided a glitzy opening night at Radio City Music Hall.

The documentary, directed by Chris Perkel, was financed by IM Global and produced by Scott Free Productions. It is based on Davis’ 2013 Simon & Schuster bestselling autobiography The Soundtrack of My Life, written with Anthony DeCurtis, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone.

The book recount Davis’ extraordinary five-decade career in the music business, while also telling his remarkable personal story of triumphs, disappointments, and encounters with some of the top musical talents of our age, including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel, Barry Manilow, Leonard Bernstein, the Grateful Dead, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys.

Orphaned in his teens, Davis earned a full scholarship to New York University and another to Harvard Law School. He served as General Counsel of Columbia Records and, in a totally unexpected stroke of fate, became head of the company overnight. In the early ’70s, he was caught up in a payola scandal that got him fired from the label, a series of events he couches in the doc as unfair.

“It was a very tough period to go through, and to the extent that the exoneration did not get the exposure that the original headlines did, I feel gratified that the actual record is getting out there,” Davis, 85, told The New York Times in an interview that coincided with the film’s debut.

“Apple is a global innovator that has revolutionized the distribution of music,” said Davis. “It is a touching honor to share the music and unique stories that have shaped my career with millions of Apple Music subscribers around the world. I am overjoyed to work with them to continue this incredible journey!”

Barry Manilow, Jennifer Hudson, Earth Wind & Fire, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon and Aretha Franklin were among the artists who performed at the Radio City premiere. “All of them fresh from not performing at the inauguration,” Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert DeNiro joked from the stage as he kicked off the evening’s show, emceed by Whoopi Goldberg.

Aretha Franklin, Clive Davis and Barry Manilow on opening night of the 17th Annual Tribeca Film Festival. (Photo: Theo Wargo / Getty Images)