Claytoven Richardson (born May 23, 1956) is an American singer, instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and author. His musical career spans nearly three decades, during which he has been awarded several gold, platinum and

multi-platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

awards.

Early life, family and education

Clayton D. Richardson was born on May 23, 1956, in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. Larry Batiste, a childhood friend (and later business partner), accidentally fused Richardson's given name with that of the composer

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

to form the name "Claytoven."

Career

In 1979 Claytoven made his recording studio and recording artist debut as a part of the group Bill Summers and Summers Heat. The group recorded one album for

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

and three albums for

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

. The group saw moderate success with the songs, "Call It What You Want" and "Jam The Box". After Summers Heat, Claytoven went on to become a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

with his first major start singing background vocals for producer

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on the hit

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

single "Kisses in the Moonlight". His second recording session was as a guest vocalist and background vocalist on the breakout album " Duotones" for saxophonist,

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. He has since performed on numerous gold and platinum recordings featuring Tevin Campbell,

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, and many others. After being in the music business for some time he realized a need to increase the pool of well trained professional vocalists. So in 2000 Claytoven also stepped into the role of teacher by founding the "Studio Training Workshop for Vocalists", a workshop designed to help aspiring singers pursue a career as a professional recording vocalist by bridging the gap between the academic and professional music worlds. He currently teaches this and other workshops at San Francisco State University Music/Recording Industry Program and for various other music programs across the country. He now works for the City of Oakland running a local teen center, Digital Arts and Culinary Academy (DACA), along with fellow co-director and musician Andrea President. In his efforts to further create growth in the professional music community, Richardson penned the book ''The Professional Studio Vocalist'' (ISBN 1598632795). He has been involved with many educational and literary projects, yet he remains active as a session musician.

Selected discography

Claytovenat Allmusic.com

Artist albums

Session work

Soundtracks

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Claytoven American rhythm and blues singers American dance musicians 1956 births Musicians from Berkeley, California Living people Singers from California 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers