David Clayton-Thomas, Blood Sweat & Tears Lead Singer, Dies at 84

David Clayton-Thomas, lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, died Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He was 84. Spokesperson Eric Alper announced the death but did not cite a cause. ” The group’s second album won two Grammys, including Album of the Year for 1969 after beating the Beatles’ Abbey Road.

Blood, Sweat & Tears performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival and conducted a U.S. State Department tour of Eastern Europe in 1970. The band topped the charts again in 1970 with Blood, Sweat & Tears 3.

Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972. He later released more than a dozen solo albums and toured for 20 years under a licensing agreement that allowed him to perform as Blood, Sweat Tears. Born David Henry Thomsett on Sept.

13, 1941, in Kingston upon Thames, England, he grew up near Toronto and Ottawa. His father was a Canadian World War II veteran and his mother was a pianist-entertainer. He left home at 14, spent years in detention facilities, and taught himself guitar on an instrument left by a fellow inmate.

Judy Collins recommended him to the band after seeing him perform. He joined Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968 as a replacement for Al Kooper. Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996.

“Spinning Wheel” entered the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. He is survived by daughters Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.