" Folk singer Judy Collins heard him perform one night in New York and told her friend, drummer Bobby Colomby. The drummer was a member of Blood, Sweat & Tears, a group led by Al Kooper, former member of Blues Project and a top session musician and producer who’d worked frequently with Bob Dylan. While the Kooper-led incarnation of the band splintered after releasing one album, several members regrouped around Clayton-Thomas and released a self-titled second album in 1968. The album — produced by James William Guercio, who also helmed Chicago’s albums — featured “Spinning Wheel,” “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” and another hit single titled “And When I Die,” setting a formula for the group’s albums that combined original compositions with well-curated contemporaneous covers of songs by Traffic, Laura Nyro, the Band, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Motown songwriters and others. It topped the Billboard albums chart for seven weeks, and remained in the top 200 for nearly two years."
- Variety [ @ variety.com/2026/music/news/da… ]
For me, it was a lifetime memory, seeing/hearing BS&T in Central Park, from 'the rocks' overlooking the stage. [July 9; see flyer]
What I experienced, I will never forget: After the beginning notes, the launch into song by Clayton-Thomas, singing "You Made Me So Happy".
"I lost at love before
Got mad and closed the door
But you said child just once more...."
That mellifluous voice echoed across Central Park and the surrounding buildings and my skin crawled...
And "Spinning Wheel" span around many heads, too. (A song about his loud neighbor!) Stories...
Rest in Peace... "You made me so very happy"
#Music #MusicLegends #singer #vocalist #BloodSweatAndTears #BST #MusicHistory #passings #legend #musica #musique #musik
David Clayton-Thomas, whose soulful voice led the group Blood, Sweat & Tears to the top of the charts with songs like 'Spinning Wheel,' has died. t
Jem Aswad (Variety)
