Tony Clarke (singer)
Tony Clarke (born April 13, 1940 in New York , † August 28, 1971 in Detroit ; real name Ralph Thomas Williams ) was an American rhythm and blues and soul singer.
biography
Clarke grew up in New York before moving to Detroit with his family in 1950. After finishing school, he trained as a singer. At the small record company Stepp, he released his first record under his first pseudonym Tall Tonio and The Mello-Dee's in 1960, with the title Hod Rod Car / Ten Reasons , which went largely unnoticed. In 1962 he undertook another unsuccessful attempt with the single Cry / Love Must Be Taboo at the record company Fascination, now under the name Tony Clarke . In 1963, Clarke was successful as a songwriter . The two titles he wrote, Pushover and Two Sides , both sung by Etta James , made it into the Billboard Hot 100 (25th and 63rd respectively).
A year later, Clarke managed to get a record deal with the successful Chicago record company Chess . The first Chess single also contained a track written by Clark, Woman, Love And A Man . Chess released two versions of the song on his single No. 1880 in January 1964, and the record reached number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1964. After the second Chess production flopped again, Clark returned with the in turn, the title he wrote, The Entertainer , returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1965. There the title rose to number 31, in the rhythm and blues charts it even came to 10th place.
In this way, known nationwide, he started US tours, including with James Brown , and appeared in Dick Clark's television show American Bandstand . In 1966, Clarke settled in Hollywood and founded the production company Earthquake Productions with arranger Roger Spotts. The last single on Chess was released in 1967, but like the productions previously released, it was initially unsuccessful. It was only after Clark's death in the 1970s that Landslide became a major nightclub hit in Great Britain. After the record contract with Chess had expired, Clark switched to the record company Chickory, where there was only one record release in 1967. From 1968, Clark lived again in Detroit, where his divorced wife and their children also lived. There he got a contract with the small record company MS Records, for which he worked as a songwriter and where he released his last single A Wrong Man / No Sense of Direction (catalog number 206). In the early hours of the morning of August 28, 1971, he was shot dead by her while fighting with his ex-wife.
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| title | Cat.No. | published |
|---|---|---|
| Cry / Love Must Be Taboo | Fascination 1010 | 1962 |
| Woman, Love And A Man (Part 1) / Woman, Love And A Man (Part 2) | Chess 1880 | 1/1964 |
| Ain't Love Good, Ain't Love Proud / Coming Back Strong | Chess 1894 | 5/1964 |
| The Entertainer / This Heart of Mine | Chess 1924 | 3/1965 |
| Poor boy / fugitive child | Chess 1935 | 9/1965 |
| You're a Star / Joyce Elaine | Chess 1944 | 11/1965 |
| Landslide / You Made Me a VIP | Chess 1979 | 1967 |
| Ghetto Man / Love Power | Chickory 409 | 1967 |
| A Wrong Man / No Sense of Direction | MS 206 | 1968 |
Footnotes
- ↑ http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1970.html
- ↑ Chart sources: US
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clarke, Tony |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Williams, Ralph Thomas (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rhythm and blues and soul singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 13, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | new York |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 28, 1971 |
| Place of death | Detroit |