David Clayton-Thomas, Blood, Sweat & Tears singer, dies at 84

David Clayton-Thomas, the husky tenor behind Blood, Sweat & Tears’ biggest hits, died peacefully on Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto at 84. Eric Alper, a spokesperson, said no specific cause was given.

Clayton-Thomas helped turn Blood, Sweat & Tears into one of the defining bands of late 1960s rock by giving songs like Spinning Wheel, And When I Die and the Motown cover You’ve Made Me So Very Happy a forceful, brass-backed sound. The group’s self-titled album, released on December 11, 1968, spent seven weeks at No. 1 in the United States, produced three successive Top 5 singles and won the 1970 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

That Grammy victory remains one of the era’s notable upsets. The official awards archive lists Blood, Sweat & Tears as the winner at the 12th Annual Grammy Awards, with Abbey Road among the nominees. At a moment when popular music was widening its range, the band’s mix of rock, jazz, R&B, funk, Latin music, Broadway and Harlem influences gave it a sound that stood apart from many of its peers.

Clayton-Thomas arrived there by a winding route. He was a Canadian who had once been a street fighter and petty thief before becoming a front man with a voice that could sound both urgent and wounded. Blood, Sweat & Tears sold millions of records at its peak and helped open the door for horn-driven acts such as Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive, as rock bands borrowed from jazz arrangements without losing radio reach.

Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham. A memorial concert is planned for a later date. Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas said her father believed people could start over and that “nobody is born bad,” a belief that matched the reinvention that carried him from a hard early life to the center of mainstream rock.