Clarence Carter has died.
The Southern soul legend, who was best known for his songs “Slip Away” and “Patches,” was recently diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, and was also battling pneumonia and sepsis, a rep for his ex-wife, Candi Staton, told Rolling Stone.
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Meanwhile, a rep for Carter’s management company told The Guardian that the singer died on May 13 following complications with pneumonia. He was 90.
The Alabama-born singer was blind from birth. He rose to fame in the early ’60s as part of a duo called Clarence & Calvin. The duo’s name was later changed to the C & C Boys.
Carter struck out on his own in 1967, finding chart success with his self-penned song “Tell Daddy.” The success was exacerbated when Etta James recorded a song called “Tell Mama” in response to Carter’s song.
The following year, Carter continued his musical achievements with “Slip Away,” “Too Weak to Fight,” and “Back Door Santa.”
Also in 1968, Carter met Staton. He helped her find solo success, co-wrote songs like ” I’d Rather Be an Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than a Young Man’s Fool)” for her, and welcomed a son, Clarence Carter Jr., with her. The pair divorced in 1973.
Clarence Carter’s Biggest Hits
In 1970, Carter’s cover of Chairman of the Board’s “Patches” was released, marking the biggest success of his career.
“I think ‘Patches’ really etched me into the music world,” Carter told Connect Savannah in 2010. “Where people are probably going to remember me for a long time to come. Which I always wanted–but I never knew it would happen that way.”
The two-time Grammy nominee continued to release music through the ’90s, most notably “Sixty Minute Man” in 1973 and “Strokin’” in 1986. The latter song became a cult favorite for its bawdy lyrics.
“I just started foolin’ around with some lyrics and put it together. I played all the instruments,” he told the outlet. “When I was recording it, the engineer got so tickled that he couldn’t even stop the tape. The tape ran off the reel. When I got back up to the control room he said, ‘Clarence, don’t you know what you just said? They can’t play that on the radio!’ I said, ‘Well, they can hear it at the disco.’”
Carter’s most recent album was 2020’s Mr. Old School, while his latest song release was “Danger Point” in 2024.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images