David Clayton-Thomas, Blood, Sweat & Tears frontman, dead at 84
The Toronto-born singer transformed a New York jazz-rock band into Grammy-winning superstars with hits like Spinning Wheel.
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David Clayton-Thomas, the powerhouse Canadian singer who lifted American band Blood, Sweat & Tears to the heights of pop music success, has died. He was 84.
Clayton-Thomas died peacefully at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto on Wednesday. The cause of his death was not immediately clear.
Born and raised in Toronto, Clayton-Thomas made his early name in the city's Yonge Street and Yorkville music scenes with bands the Shays and the Bossmen before his fortunes changed dramatically. In 1968, he auditioned for Blood, Sweat & Tears, the New York City-based jazz-rock group with a four-piece horn section, who were seeking a new singer for their second album.
It proved a match made in musical heaven. "Everything David sang sounded right — and even better, sounded like a hit," said Steve Katz, the band's guitarist, in a 2015 memoir.
The album Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in the waning days of 1968, sold millions. Singles like You've Made Me So Very Happy, the Clayton-Thomas-penned Spinning Wheel, and And When I Die each reached No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart. The band won three Grammy Awards, and Clayton-Thomas became one of rock's most distinctive voices—his gravelly tenor instantly recognizable across a catalogue that defined late-1960s and 1970s rock.