Clarence Carter, the Southern soul singer whose music helped shape the genre, has died aged 90. The legendary musician, best known for classics including Patches, Slip Away, and Back Door Santa, died following health complications including pneumonia, according to reports confirmed by his management and family associates.
For generations of soul fans, Carter’s voice was a defining sound: rough-edged but deeply tender, he had countless hits throughout his six-decade career. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1936, Carter was blind from birth and attended the Alabama School for the Blind before studying music at college.
Early Career and Breakthrough
He first entered the music industry performing alongside fellow blind musician Calvin Scott as part of duo Clarence & Calvin, later renamed the C&C Boys. But after Scott was seriously injured in a car accident, Carter struck out alone, and within a few years had become one of the most distinctive voices in American soul music.
His breakthrough came with Tell Daddy in 1967, later famously reworked by Etta James into Tell Mama. Then came the song that arguably defined him forever: Slip Away. Released in 1968, the aching slow-burn ballad became a major crossover hit, reaching the US Top 10 while cementing Carter’s reputation as a master of emotionally complicated storytelling. Decades later, the track continued finding new audiences through films including Almost Famous and Licorice Pizza.
Diverse Repertoire and Later Hits
Alongside deeply emotional soul records sat songs full of gleeful innuendo and raunchy comedy, nowhere more famously than on Back Door Santa, the wonderfully inappropriate Christmas anthem later sampled by Run-D.M.C. Many other fans will remember him for the hit song Strokin’. Released in the 1980s, the outrageously explicit track became a cult phenomenon thanks to jukeboxes and late-night parties.
Away from music, Carter’s personal life was often turbulent. He married fellow soul star Candi Staton in 1970 after she worked as one of his backing singers, and the pair shared a son together before divorcing three years later amid accusations of infidelity and bitter public fallout. His final album, Mr. Old School, arrived in 2020, while he released new music as recently as 2024.
