SAN DIEGO — Clive Davis, the legendary record-label honcho who died Monday at the age of 94, was instrumental in the careers of everyone from Janis Joplin, former Tijuana guitarist Carlos Santana and Bruce Springsteen to Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston and part-time La Jolla resident Alicia Keys.

But Davis, who headed such leading record companies as Columbia, Arista and J, also signed several gifted, proudly left-of-center artists whose careers never came close to matching the commercial success of his more famous acts.

Three of the most notable are short-lived bands from the 1970s: the genre-blurring the Alpha Band; progressive-rock mavericks Happy the Man; and the country-rocking Funky Kings, whose leader, San Diego native Jack Tempchin, also made his self-titled 1978 solo album for Arista.

Davis had high hopes for at least two of those three bands, as he stated in 2004 during his keynote address at the 46th annual National Association of Recording Merchandisers convention in San Diego.

Asked if there were any artists he had signed whose lack of commercial success especially disappointed him, Davis was quick to respond.

He cited the Alpha Band, which featured three ex-members of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, and Funky Kings, whose self-titled 1976 album for Arista featured the Tempchin-penned love ballad “Slow Dancing.” In 1977, the song became a Top 10 hit for Johnny Rivers after being retitled “Swayin’ to the Music (“Slow Dancin’).”

“The Alpha Band were incredibly gifted, dynamic musicians who wrote their own material,” Davis said. “They were electrifying. But you need hits, and they never made it. I’d bet on them again — them, and the Funky Kings, with Jack Tempchin.”

Tempchin, who wrote the Eagles’ hit “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and co-wrote “Already Gone,” was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019. He formed Funky Kings in 1976 with fellow singer-songwriters Jules Shear and Richard Stekol.

While the three were rehearsing Stekol then invited bassist Bill Bodine, drummer Frank Cotinola and pedal-steel guitar and dobro wiz Greg Leisz to join the fledgling band. What happened next reads like a fairy tale for musicians.

“I got a call form Clive one night and he said he was coming to town the next day,” Tempchin told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He asked if I had anything going on, and I said: ‘Yeah!’ “

Tempchin laughed at the memory.

“I had never played with Bill, Richard or Greg before we got together in a Los Angeles rehearsal hall,” he said. “I told them that Clive was coming to hear us that afternoon and we learned and practiced three songs, Jules’ ‘Easy to Begin,’ Richard’s ‘My Old Pals’ and my song, ‘Slow Dancing.’

“We had only been together with Greg and the drummer and bassist for one day! Clive came in and we played him the three songs. He said: ‘I like it.’ I said: ‘That’s great. What should I do? Get a lawyer?’ And Clive said: ‘No. You’re signed.’

“It was that simple. He didn’t have to ask anybody else. Within a couple of months, we had recorded our album with a great producer, Paul Rothchild — who had worked with the Doors and Janis Joplin — and Arista released it.

“Clive kept me on Arista for my first solo album, and I’m grateful that he did. He asked me to keep sending him songs. I’m sorry to see him go.”

Alas, as good as it was, “Funky Kings” was a commercial flop. The group disbanded and shelved its second album, which was never released.

Not so for the Davis-signed Happy the Man, which had so impressed Peter Gabriel that he came close to hiring the Washington, D.C.-based quintet to be his new band following Gabriel’s departure from Genesis in late 1975.

After being signed by Davis, Happy the Man made two albums for Arista, 1977’s “Happy the Man” and 1978’s “Crafty Hands.” Both have since been rereleased several times by other record labels, most recently earlier this year with brand-new remixes.

The signing to Arista of Happy the Man was much different than that of the Funky Kings. (Full disclosure: While I have not seen him in decades, Happy the Man guitarist Stanley Whitaker was a classmate of mine for a year at Frankfurt American High School in Germany. In 1989, I wrote the liner notes for the compilation album, “Happy the Man: Retrospective.)

Happy the Man caught the ear of Rick Chertoff, an executive at Arista, in 1976. He was captivated by the band’s daring and deviously intricate music, which was largely instrumental and not remotely radio-airplay-friendly. Undaunted, Chertoff brought the band to New York to audition in person for Davis.

“Clive listened to our songs, including ‘Knee Bitten Nymphs In Limbo’ and ‘Stumpy Meets the Firecracker in Stencil Forest’,” Whitaker recalled.

“He told us: ‘I really don’t understand your music; it’s way over my head. But Rick says it’s great.’ Then, Clive signed us on the spot.”

Arista dropped Happy the Man after both the band’s albums failed to make any commercial impact. Former Happy the Man drummer Mike Beck recalled Davis fondly in a Monday social media post.

“I have several memories of talking with Clive during HTM days,” Beck wrote. “Auditioning for Arista, with him sitting 20 feet in front of us listening to every note we played. Meeting with us, for half an hour, afterwards, discussing our sound & future with the label. Having him speak with me personally about my percussion set-up I used live, and complementing what I added to the band. He was always kind and respectful. A definite loss for the music industry.”

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