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David Clayton-Thomas performs at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala in Toronto in a 2007 file photo. A memorial concert honouring his life and music will be held for the musician following his death.AARON HARRIS/The Canadian Press
David Clayton-Thomas, the Canadian singer whose raspy and soulful voice led American jazz rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears to chart-topping triumphs, has died at 84.
His publicist says he died peacefully on Wednesday evening at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
Clayton-Thomas was a key part of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ success in the late 1960s.
The band’s self-titled second album, his first with the group, spent seven weeks atop the U.S. Billboard chart in 1969 and won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 1970.
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Clayton-Thomas, whose raspy and soulful voice led Blood, Sweat & Tears, in 1976.Barrie Davis/The Globe and Mail
It famously bested the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” in the Grammys race that year, thanks largely to its hits “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” as well as the track “And When I Die,” and Clayton-Thomas’s own composition, “Spinning Wheel.”
A memorial concert honouring his life and music will be held at a later date, said publicist Eric Alper, with proceeds benefiting charity organization Peacebuilders Canada, the cause said to be close to his heart.
A release says Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.