David Clayton-Thomas, the Grammy-winning singer of “Spinning Wheel” and “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” with Blood Sweat and Tears, has died. The 84-year-old’s death at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto was confirmed by his publicist.
He arrived just in time to save Blood Sweat and Tears, which had fractured after their gold-selling 1968 debut, Child Is Father to the Man. Judy Collins recommended Clayton-Thomas to group leader Bobby Colomby after catching an embryonic performance in New York City.
Their self-titled first collaboration, released later the same year, became a four-times platinum U.S. chart-topping blockbuster. “The first time I walked in and sang with that band, we were in shock,” Clayton-Thomas told Rock Cellar in 2013. “It was one of those electrical things that happen.”
READ MORE: Top 10 Blood Sweat and Tears Songs
Blood Sweat and Tears remained at No. 1 for an astonishing seven weeks. Among its five Grammy wins was album of the year, besting the Beatles‘ Abbey Road. “And When I Die” joined “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” and Clayton-Thomas’ original “Spinning Wheel” at No. 2 in the U.S.; all of them were gold-certified.
But Blood Sweat and Tears would become a shooting star. They only had three more Top 40 singles, and none after 1971.
David Clayton-Thomas’ Troubled Early Years
Born David Henry Thomsett on Sept. 13, 1941, in Surrey, England, he was the son of a Canadian soldier and an English music student who met as she entertained troops. Clayton-Thomas grew up in Willowdale, a suburb of Toronto, and had a difficult childhood. At various points, he was jailed and homeless.
A discarded guitar found in a cell turned things around – but hard times informed the music. “Blood, Sweat and Tears, without me, was basically a jazz band,” Clayton-Thomas told Songfacts in 2015. “I think my contribution to the band was the rhythm and blues and the soul I brought into it.”
Listen to David Clayton-Thomas at Woodstock
Ronnie Hawkins later became a mentor, just as he did with members of the Band. Clayton-Thomas started playing along Toronto’s Yonge Street strip, already experimenting with a mixture of rock and jazz that would power Blood Sweat and Tears up the charts. “Brainwashed,” an anti-war anthem, was an early hit in Canada.
With Blood Sweat and Tears, Clayton-Thomas played Woodstock, the Royal Albert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden. The follow-up to Blood Sweat and Tears, 1970’s Blood Sweat and Tears 3, also topped the U.S. charts. Blood Sweat and Tears struck gold again with 1971’s B S & T 4.
They also made history by becoming the first rock group to play behind the Iron Curtain, appearing across Eastern Europe on a tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The historic trek was chronicled in the well-received 2023 documentary What the Hell Happened to Blood Sweat and Tears?
What Was David Clayton-Thomas’ Cause of Death?
Clayton-Thomas left in 1972, as the aptly named New Blood became Blood Sweat and Tears’ final Top 40 LP. A subsequent self-titled solo project stalled at No. 184 in the U.S., however, and Clayton-Thomas had returned to the band by the mid-’70s.
He remained through 1981, then led several incarnations from 1984 through 2004. “I kept it going as long as I could sanely and physically do it,” Clayton-Thomas told Rock Cellar. “One by one they drifted away and by the ‘90s, I pretty much found myself the only one left.”
READ MORE: How Blood Sweat and Tears Were Blackmailed Into a Disastrous Tour
Clayton-Thomas is a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame; “Spinning Wheel” has also been honored by the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Latter-era solo projects included 2015’s Combo, recorded with a quintet of Canadian jazz musicians. Clayton-Thomas’ most recent LP was 2019’s Say Somethin.’
No cause of death was given, though Clayton-Thomas had serious heart surgery in 2010. A memorial concert is reportedly in the works with proceeds benefiting Peacebuilders Canada, a Toronto-based charity that works with troubled youth.
Watch David Clayton-Thomas Perform ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’
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