Clive Davis reveals the triumph and tragedy of his new Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston projects Aretha Franklin talks about her new album Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, Adele, Taylor Swift and being a diva. HE is the keeper of the flame for two of the greatest female voices of the past five decades, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. Within a month, the 82-year-old music impresario Clive Davis has released new projects from the two women - one a career-extending celebration of her supremacy. The other a career-resurrecting reminder of her legacy. The first record Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics became her first top 10 debut record in almost 30 years, propelled by a scene-stealing rendition of Adele's megahit Rolling In The Deep. Soul Queen ... Aretha Franklin decided to merge Adele's Rolling In The Deep with Ain't No Mountain Enough for new record. Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances is the late singer's first live album and an attempt by Davis to remind the world about her talent rather than the tragedy of her death in a Beverly Hills Hotel bathtub in 2012. Davis spoke exclusively about the two women and how these labours of love for him were realised. Rolling In The Deep Davis prepared a list of "diva classics" for Franklin to consider because he wanted "to make sure this incredible voice can have hits again." The Queen Of Soul already had form throughout her career for interpreting the songs of her peers and making them her own including Otis Redding's R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and Dionne Warwick's I Say A Little Prayer. Musical partners ... Clive Davis and Franklin have worked together since 1979. Picture: D Dipasupil / Getty Images. Davis said it took him a "few years" to convince her to undertake an album's worth of songs made famous by other female singers. I feel the great voice of the last decade really has been Adele, particularly with her writing and singing on Rolling In The Deep. It is a modern classic," he explained. She listened to it and agreed she could make it her own by merging it into Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Then she did the same with I Will Survive with Destiny's Child's Survivor and I'm Every Woman turning into R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Aretha's voice is just sparkling, powerful - she's at the peak, believe it or not. Aretha and Alicia Franklin and Alicia Keys have formed a bond since performing together at Davis's famed pre-Grammys party in 2003, the year after she won five Grammys in 2002 for her Songs In A Minor album. When Davis revealed the Queen of Soul was going to record Key's hit No One for her new record, the young star had a suggestion. Still got it ... of Aretha Franklin, music guru Clive Davis says she's still "at the peak" of her singing ability. A year or two after I signed Alicia, the album had done incredibly well all over the world and won Grammys, and I asked her what would be special to her, what was top of her list? Davis recalled. She said she would love to sing on any stage with Aretha Franklin. I have a pre-Grammys party every year and that next year, I arranged for Alicia and Aretha to sing together. I have lunch with Alicia every few months and when I told her Aretha was going to do her song (No One), she suggested the song be given a strong reggae, Caribbean flavour and that's what we did. As Aretha said, Alicia was spot-on the money. Queen of The Studio Among the producers lined up to record the Diva Classics album were Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and Andre 3000. She is famous for refusing to do any more than three takes in the studio and Davis said she is the most thoroughly prepared artist he has ever worked with in the recording booth. Legend has it that any producer who asks for more than three run throughs should duck for cover. She rehearses until she is fully in mastery of the song and what is classically know about her is that she never does more than three takes. Ever," Davis said. Legend lost ... iconic recording artist Whitney Houston died in 2012. Yes it is hard to get her to do more than that because in her head, she is so prepared when she starts recording. Her first take speaks of her interpretation of the song, the second might be to correct any imperfections and then, with respect to the producer in the studio with her, if they want her to give any other side of the voice or the song, she will do that on the third. Certain artists can take a month on one song. She can do two or three songs in a day. Rediscovering Whitney Davis went through hundreds of hours of footage to find the definitive performances of Houston's career from her first TV appearance as a 19-year-old ingenue on the Merv Griffin Show through to her gutsy rendition of I Didn't Know My Own Strength on the Oprah show in 2009. Great talent ... Clive Davis signed Whitney Houston when she was 19 and guided her entire career before her death in 2012. He admits it was a bittersweet and often heartbreaking exercise for someone who had not only overseen her recording career but had tried to help her fight the demons which would ultimately claim her life. "I never switched off when I was looking at these performances; you do it with a heavy heart," he says. Rediscovering her greatness was a thrill. You live with the later years when she was fighting demons, never knowing that she was fighting for her life and then you go back and see how different she was when she was young. Seeing those performances became divorced from the personal issues and all about the fact she was the greatest singer of her generation. Final bow ... Houston performed he last concerts in Australia in 2010 to mixed reviews. Picture: Noel Kessel. Just The Voice Davis said Houston's legendary 10-minute medley at the American Music Awards in 1994 remains a masterclass in singing live without the bells and whistles artists rely on at awards shows now. It is also the first time her renditions of I Love You Porgy from Porgy and Bess and And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from Dreamgirls have been released on record. I had forgot about that performance. Today you see 100 people on stage, moving around, dancing, huge production numbers. Here was Whitney, by herself with a solo spotlight and having the power to go from I Love You Porgy to And I Tell You I'm Not Going, soaring with every note and then I Have Nothing. They had to cut her standing ovation because it got too emotional. Yu don't see that today. Originally published as The Queen, The Diva and The Guru