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Clarence Carter

Born: January 14, 1936, Montgomery, Alabama
2003 AMHOF Inductee

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Clarence Carter was born in Montgomery, Alabama January 4, 1936. He grew up, learned to play guitar from listening to records by John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins and Jimmy Reed then attended Alabama State College in Montgomery. where he earned a music degree. By the time he graduated, Carter had developed sufficiently diverse skills that on his recordings, he would not only sing and play guitar but also occasionally do his own keyboard work and write and arrange, writing charts in Braille. Around 1963, Carter and Calvin Scott began singing together. They made two singles for tiny Fairlane Records as Clarence and Calvin and then another four for Duke Records. three of them as the C&C Boys. In 1965. Clarence and Calvin paid Rick Hall's Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, $85 to record "Step By Step" and "Rooster Knees And Rice." Their contract with Duke had expired. but Atlanta disc jockey Zenas Sears (formerly manager of Chuck Willis. among others) tipped Atlantic's Jerry Wexler to the quality of the disc. and it was released by the Atco subsidiary. "Step By Step" didn't chart, but Clarence's one full-throated verse made an impact that survived the departure of Scott after a car crash. Carter's first few solo singles appeared on Hall's Fame label. But after "Thread The Needle" briefly crossed over and "Tell Daddy" provided the inspiration for Etta James's crossover success with "Tell Mama," he became a full-fledged Atlantic act with "Looking For A Fox." in January 1968. Six months later, Carter scored a solid Top Ten hit with the magnificent cheating blues ballad "Slip Away" and over the next three years, he was a steady R&B presence on the lower reaches of the pop charts, climaxing with his other Top Ten hit, "Patches," in 1970, but continuing on Atlantic through late 1971's "Slipped. Tripped And Fell In Love" (which did almost as much for Ann Peebles as "Tell Daddy" did for Etta James). Carter continued working with Rick Hall until the mid-70s. Since then, he has recorded for a variety of small labels, most often with Atlanta-based Ichiban. for whom he still occasionally makes the R&B charts.