NEW YORK (AP) — Clarence Carter, the blues and soul musician and singer-songwriter with the raspy, emotional vocals whose hits included the sentimental “Patches” and the salacious “Strokin,’” has died at age 90.
Carter’s death was confirmed by Bill Carpenter, a spokesman for his former wife and fellow singer, Candi Staton. Carter died Wednesday of natural causes, according to Carpenter.
Carter, a self-taught guitarist who was born blind in Montgomery, Alabama, and majored in music at Alabama State College, had his biggest hit in 1970 with “Patches,” a plaintive tale about a poor country boy who must become a man and run his family’s farm after his father dies.
But he specialized in exuberantly raunchy songs like “Slip Away,” “Back Door Santa” and “Strokin’” a funky, talking ode to sex (“Have you ever made love just before breakfast?” he asks) that was too explicit for commercial radio but became a standard on nightclub jukeboxes and was featured in Eddie Murphy’s 1996 remake of “The Nutty Professor.”
Another favorite was “Making Love on the Dark End of the Street,” in which Carter narrates a long, cheerful account of how humans and other creatures will go to extremes in the pursuit of passion. His other songs about illicit love included “Slip Away” and “Back Door Santa.”
