Christine Elizabeth "Chris" Clark (born February 1, 1946) is an American soul, jazz, and blues singer, who recorded for Motown Records. Clark became famous in England as the "white negress" (a nickname meant as a compliment), because the six-foot platinum blonde, blue-eyed soul singer toured with fellow Motown artists, who were predominantly black.
Video Chris Clark (singer)
Biography
Clark was born in Santa Cruz, California. Recording on the Motown V.I.P. label, one of several Motown imprints, Chris Clark is acknowledged by Northern Soul fans for songs such as 1965's "Do Right Baby Do Right" (by Berry Gordy) and 1966's "Love's Gone Bad" (Holland-Dozier-Holland). Another of her notable songs was the 1967 single "I Want To Go Back There Again" (Berry Gordy, Jr).
Clark managed to have only one chart hit. In the US, "Love's Gone Bad" made #105 pop, and #41 R&B in 1966. In Canada, it made it to #95 on the RPM 100. In 1967, Clark released an album called Soul Sounds on the Motown label. The album featured twelve songs including a rare Motown ballad called "If You Should Walk Away" (Berry Gordy, Jr.) which was slated for release as a single, but was not. She recorded one more album for Motown on its newly created rock label Weed called CC Rides Again (1969). The Belgian label Marginal released "Soul Sounds" made from the original master tapes (with unaltered mixes) was issued and contains the songs from both her vinyl albums with Motown plus an unreleased single. A 2005 50-track double-CD compilation entitled Chris Clark: The Motown Collection includes Soul Sounds, C.C. Rides Again, and many unreleased Motown recordings. A reissue and remastered version of the Soul Sounds album was released by the Reel Music label in April 2009, the first time the album was issued on CD in the U.S.
Clark co-wrote the screenplay for the 1972 Diana Ross motion picture Lady Sings the Blues, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She later became an executive for Motown Productions' film and television division in Los Angeles.
Clark performed the song "The Ghosts of San Francisco", written by R. Christian Anderson and John Thomas Bullock, for the feature film When the World Came to San Francisco in 2015. The music video for the song was winner of the "Mixed Genre Jazz Film Award" at the New York Jazz Film Festival in November 2016. She currently lives in Santa Rosa, California.
Marriage
In 1982 she married Academy Award-winning screenwriter and novelist Ernest Tidyman. She was his fourth wife. He died from complications from a perforated ulcer in 1984 in London.
Maps Chris Clark (singer)
Selected discography
Releases on the Tamla/Motown Label (UK)
- Soul Sounds - 1967 - 12" vinyl LP album
- CC Rides Again - 1969 - 12" vinyl LP album
Releases on the Tamla/Motown Label (UK)
- Tamla/Motown TMG591: "Love's Gone Bad" / "Put Yourself in My Place" 7"
- Tamla/Motown TMG624: "From Head to Toe" / "The Beginning of the End" 7"
- Tamla/Motown TMG638: "I Want to Go Back There Again" / "I Love You" 7"
- Tamla/Motown TME2014: V/A : New Faces from Hitsville EP (inc. Chris Clark)
Releases on the V.I.P. Label (USA)
- "Do Right Baby, Do Right" / "Don't Be Too Long" - 1966 - 7"
- "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" / "Don't Be Too Long" - 1966 - (Cancelled)
- "Love's Gone Bad" / "Put Yourself In My Place" - 1966 - 7"
- "I Want To Go Back There Again" / "I Love You" - 1967 - 7"
Releases on the Motown Label (USA)
- Soul Sounds - 1967 (Mono Version) - 12" vinyl LP album
- Soul Sounds - 1967 (Stereo Version) - 12" vinyl LP album
- "From Head To Toe" / "Beginning Of The End" - 1967 - 7"
- "Whisper You Love Me Boy" / "The Beginning Of The End" - 1968 - 7"
Releases on the Weed Label (USA)
- CC Rides Again - 1969 (Stereo Only) - 12" vinyl LP album (with fold-out cover)
Released on Marginal Import (Belgium)
- Soul Sounds - 1997 (Contains both Soul Sounds and C.C. Rides Again albums plus an unreleased single) - CD
Released on Universal UK (England)
- The Motown Collection - 2005 (Contains both Soul Sounds and C.C. Rides Again plus 25 unreleased songs) - Double CD
Released on Reel Music (USA)
- Soul Sounds - 2009 - (Complete remastered album, plus alternate take of "Do Right Baby, Do Right")
- "Dream Or Cry" - 4 December 2012 - three-track single
References
External links
- Digitage Images "From the Camera and Mind of Chris Clark"
- August 21, 2009 interview, latimes.com; accessed January 29, 2016.
- September 2009 Interview with L.A. Record
- Chris Clark discography at MusicBrainz
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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