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A Book to Make You So Very Happy

Oct 1, 10

The Globe and Mail
October 1, 2010


BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS, by David Clayton-Thomas, Viking Canada, 323 pages,

At the age of 15, David Clayton-Thomas had left home and was living on the streets of Toronto, a life that eventually saw him land in jail, which could have been the first step on the road to the bottom. It was while he was doing time at the Burwash Correctional Centre that he found a guitar that had been left by a previous inmate, and found his calling by playing the blues alone in his cell and on-stage to entertain the other prisoners. After prison, he joined and founded several different groups in Toronto, but it wasn’t until he went to New York that he hooked up with Blood, Sweat and Tears, in which his big voice was matched by the group’s powerful horn section, and a series of mega-hits ensued.  

Press | David Clayton-Thomas

Clayton-Thomas: Smiling through the tears

Sep 20, 10

By Ben Rayner, Toronto Star
September 20, 2010
 
At his daughter’s urging, legendary musician tells his gritty life story appropriately titled Blood Sweat and Tears

 
David Clayton-Thomas has some skeletons in his closet, but he’s setting them all free and it feels mighty good.

“The pressure’s off now in interviews,” laughs the onetime Blood, Sweat and Tears frontman, a few weeks shy of his 69th birthday, over lunch a few steps away from his lakeshore penthouse. “There are no loaded questions they can ask me anymore. There it is. Read the book. It’s all out there. Who gives a sh–?”

 He comes clean about the humiliating beatings he withstood at the hands of his father, his criminal teenhood as a Toronto street kid, his years spent as a scrappy convict bouncing between juvenile halls and prisons where the frequent fighter and troublemaker would entertain himself by singing in the “natural echo chambers” that were solitary-confinement cells.

He comes clean about the drugs, the cutthroat business dealings and the ego clashes that went on within the band during its platinum-plated 1970s peak and its subsequent dissolution into Clayton-Thomas and a revolving cast of hired-gun musicians half his age, not to mention the fatal 1978 overdose in Amsterdam of his friend and bandmate Greg Herbert. And he comes clean about how the staunch will to succeed that elevated him from the streets into pop music’s elite was, for decades, a strain on his health, his family and his interpersonal relationships.

There’s also, however, a genuinely inspirational rags-to-riches story to be found in the life of a self-made man who, as Clayton-Thomas recalls, once “walked out of Millbrook with 20 bucks in my pocket, a mail-order guitar and a dream.

“It’s a double-edged sword. You have the benefit of that drive to succeed because going back is not an option,” Clayton-Thomas says of his bullheaded nature. “On the other hand, it can be awfully obsessive and a lot of people around you get sucked into that vortex.

One of the primary victims of Clayton-Thomas’s thirst for success, he concedes, was his daughter, Ashleigh. He missed a lot of birthdays and PTA meetings back in the day and has grown to realize that you don’t get those moments back.

“Because of her background in creative writing, my daughter was the one who really pushed me to write a book,” he says. “She always said: ‘You’ve got a great story, Dad. You should write it down as a novel, as a serious memoir.

With the book coming out and an induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame — “a source of tremendous pride for me” — looming in October, Clayton-Thomas figured he’d better get a new album out. Thus, early October will see the release via Universal Music of Soul Ballads, a collection of classic cuts from the likes of Ray Charles and Gladys Knight reinterpreted with the aid of a full orchestra.

“These are songs that I sang in bars on Yonge Street 40 years ago. They’re tunes that every young singer of my generation grew up with.”

Press | David Clayton-Thomas

Blood, Sweat and Tears
 review by 
Lynn Fenske

Sep 16, 10

Blood, Sweat and Tears 
by David Clayton Thomas
Penguin Group (Canada)


Lynn Fenske
Toronto Books Examiner
September 16, 2010
 
There’s a lot about David Clayton-Thomas that will impress you, besides his rich, raspy voice.

As a kid growing up in Toronto, he overcame an abusive father, jail time and living homeless on the streets to become one of the most recognizable singer-songwriters of the boomer generation. As the former lead singer of Blood Sweat and Tears he is arguably one of the ten best vocalists ever to front a pop-rock band. To date his music has sold over forty million records.

He belts out a song with a soulful, bluesy rendering that comes from living life hard and fast. It’s a voice born of anguish and boredom in a solitary jail cell and enriched on the road, working seedy strip bars and cavernous concert arenas.

In his memoir, aptly titled Blood Sweat and Tears, he shares his personal history that reflects and defines a distinctive era in music and pop culture. His is a true rags to riches story. From the Yonge Street Strip to Woodstock, to Vegas and back to Toronto, he recounts his many adventures as a rock star troubadour.

Clayton-Thomas delivers on his promise to write as “nakedly honest” as possible. He prepares readers with a very frank introduction that sets the tone for his insights and confessions. He writes, “there are no good guys or bad guys in this story. I’m sure that the recollections of some of the people I write about will differ from mine and that’s just how it is. I’ve learned that very few of us are one thing or another. We are all heroes and villains in the play of our lives – it all depends on which act we are watching and who is writing the script. This is my story.” His author’s voice is much like the lyrics to his songs – intuitive, direct and genuine.

After four decades on the road, Clayton-Thomas has stopped touring and has settled down in his hometown of Toronto. He writes, “now that I’m no longer financially dependent on the music business I have the luxury of taking on projects for the pure joy of it.” He will play the occasional gig – something special that really appeals to him, like his concert earlier this year with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Massey Hall.

He still writes and records music. His new CD entitled Soul Ballads is a collection of soulful ballads by Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke – songs that he sang forty years ago in the Yonge Street clubs. It will be released October 5.

On October 16 Clayton-Thomas will be honoured as one of the latest inductees to Canada’s Walk of Fame. 

Press | David Clayton-Thomas

Concert Review by Lynn Saxberg

Apr 17, 10

So many singers who made their name in the 60s are now in their 60s and their voices sound like they’re running low on power. Blood, Sweat & Tears frontman David Clayton-Thomas is not one of those singers.

During a wonderful concert with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra at Centrepointe Theatre on Friday, the 68-year-old classic-rock legend demonstrated his superior vocal ability on a selection of songs that spanned more than 40 years.

Whether he was booming around the bottom end or hitting on the high notes, Clayton-Thomas was in peak form, his voice carrying all the soul and grit of his early days.

In addition to the quality of his singing, Clayton-Thomas was a charismatic master of ceremonies who told stories and shared anecdotes with the rapt audience. He talked about hitchhiking from Toronto to New York City in the 1960s, for example, with nothing but a guitar and a song that would change his life.

The song, of course, was Spinning Wheel, a monster hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears. On stage Friday, it was a highlight of the first set, punchy and powerful, complete with a psychedelic guitar solo, superhuman blast of trumpet and the neat little flute break performed by orchestra musicians.

Clayton-Thomas’ more recent tunes fit well with the tone of the evening, helping to give a greater sense of musical purpose. By including songs like Morning Blues, a personal song about being 65 and single, and the lovely title track from his recent solo project, The Evergreens, the concert transcended the level of a classic-rock nostalgia fest.

It was a window into the creative soul of one of the most influential voices of the baby-boomer generation. And what a treat to experience it in a comfortable venue with outstanding musicianship and terrific sound.

Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
April 17, 2010

Press | David Clayton-Thomas