Christine Elizabeth Clark (born February 1, 1946), better known as Chris Clark, is an American

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

singer, who recorded for

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Clark became known to

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

fans for hit songs such as 1965's "Do Right Baby Do Right" (by

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

) and 1966's "Love's Gone Bad" ( Holland-Dozier-Holland). She later co-wrote the screenplay for the 1972 motion picture '' Lady Sings the Blues'' starring

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

, which earned Clark an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nomination.

Biography

Clark was born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

. Clark produced a song on Motown's subsidiary label "V.I.P." with "Love's Gone Bad", which reached #105 Pop, and #41 R&B in the U.S. in 1966. In Canada, the song made it to #95 on the ''RPM'' 100. In 1967, Clark released her first album entitled '' Soul Sounds'' on the Motown label. The album featured twelve songs including a rare Motown

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

called "If You Should Walk Away" (Berry Gordy, Jr.) which was slated for release as a single, but never was. Another notable recording was the 1967 UK single "I Want to Go Back There Again" (Berry Gordy, Jr). She recorded one more album for Motown on its newly created rock label

Weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

entitled ''

CC Rides Again ''CC Rides Again'' is the second album by soul singer Chris Clark, released on 22 November 1969. It is the only album to be released on the Motown subsidiary label, Weed. Track listing Reception *Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as A ...

'' (1969). The Belgian label Marginal released a CD of ''Soul Sounds'' made from the original master tapes (with unaltered mixes) and it contains the songs from ''Soul Sounds'', 5 songs from ''

'' and 3 unreleased singles. A 50-track double-CD from Universal Music was released in 2005 entitled ''Chris Clark: The Motown Collection'' and 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 US. Clark became famous in England as the "

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

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 Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

. Clark co-wrote the screenplay for the 1972 motion picture '' Lady Sings the Blues'' starring

, which earned her an

nomination. During the early 1970s, she was an executive with Motown's Film and Television Production Division in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1975, Clark was the Creative Assistant for the motion picture ''

Mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

''. Ultimately, Clark served as Head of Creative Affairs for Motown from 1981 to 1989. 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. Clark currently lives in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

and continues to work as a screenwriter, fine art photographer and singer.

Marriage

In 1982, Clark married screenwriter and novelist Ernest Tidyman. She was his fourth wife. He died from complications from a perforated ulcer in 1984 in London.

Selected discography

Releases on the Tamla/Motown label (UK)

* '' Soul Sounds'' – 1967 – 12" vinyl LP album * ''

'' – 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 (US)

* "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 (US)

* '' 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 (US)

* ''

'' – 1969 (stereo only) – 12" vinyl LP album (with fold-out cover)

Released on Marginal Import (Belgium)

* ''Soul Sounds'' – 1997 (contains the complete ''Soul Sounds'' album, plus 5 songs from the ''C.C. Rides Again'' album, and 3 previously unreleased singles) – 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 (US)

* '' 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 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Chris 1946 births Living people Motown artists American rhythm and blues singers Northern soul musicians Musicians from Santa Cruz, California 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers