Clarence Spady (born July 1, 1961) is an American

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, songwriter and guitarist from

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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 ...

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 ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

. He has released three studio albums, ''Nature of the Beast'' (1996), ''Just Between Us'' (2008) and ''Surrender'' (2021). Spady's current label is Nola Blue Records.

Early years

Spady was immersed in music from a young age; both his father (also Clarence) and his Uncle Fletchey were blues guitarists. Young Clarence took up the guitar aged five and later recalled how he “gravitated towards the blues” after learning how to play chords and solo. The family later moved to

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

, where Spady was introduced to rock music. Throughout his teenage years he continued to experiment with guitar playing without receiving any formal training.

Early career

On graduation, Spady worked with Greg Woods at his studio in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

. Although he was primarily tasked with odd jobs, he was eventually able to take part in recording sessions with artists such as the Johnson Family. In the early 1980s, Spady toured with Touch of Class for two years, before joining Pennsylvania based singer Greg Palmer's band for six years. In the early 1990s, Spady played in Michigan funk bands for two years before returning home to Scranton.

Solo career

Spady found little opportunity to form an R&B band in his home town so returned to his blues roots and put together the West Third Street Blues Band. For 16 years he worked as a union operator during the day while playing music at night. The band soon started writing and recording their own songs which culminated with the 1996 release of ''Nature of the Beast'' for the Evidence Music label. Spady was at the time listed as one of the top 40 blues artists under 40 by ''

Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van ...

'', and subsequently nominated as Best New Blues Artist for the 1997 W.C. Handy Awards (now

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

). In 2008, Spady released his second album, ''Just Between Us'' with

Severn Records Severn Records is an American independent record label that concentrates on blues music. Its motto is "Roots Music for the 21st Century". History On July 11, 1997, a company named Echo Records was incorporated in Maryland by David Earl. By the t ...

. Once again the album was well received and was nominated for a Blues Music Award in 2009.

''Surrender''

In 2021, Spady released ''Surrender'', a personal collection of songs reflecting on his life and career. Spady has made no secret of his battles with drugs and alcohol in the past, challenges which inspired the writing in this album. The album received favourable reviews from critics on its release, with ''Elmore Magazine's'' Jim Hynes commenting that "Spady has found his comfort zone at the intersection of Blues and Soul".

Awards and accolades

* 1997 Blues Music Award - Nominee for Best New Blues Artist - ''Nature of the Beast'' * 2009 Blues Music Award - Nominee for Soul Blues Album of the Year - ''Just Between Us'' * 2020 International Songwriting Competition - Third place (Blues) - "Surrender" (single) * 2021 Global Music Awards - Outstanding Achievement - "Surrender" (single)

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spady, Clarence 1961 births Living people American blues singer-songwriters American blues guitarists American male guitarists African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Guitarists from New Jersey Singer-songwriters from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers