Happy birthday to the late great Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, an American musician and actor. He was reported to be 65 (195,5 cm) tall. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteens E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with Youre a Friend of Mine, a duet with Jackson Browne. As a guest musician he also featured on Aretha Franklins classic Freeway of Love and on Twisted Sisters Be Chrool to Your Scuel as well as performing in concert with the Grateful Dead and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. As an actor Clemons featured in several films, including New York, New York and Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure. He also made cameo appearances in several TV series, including Diffrent Strokes, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons and The Wire. Together with his television writer friend Don Reo he published his semi-fictional autobiography told in third person, Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales, in 2009. Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12, 2011, and died of complications from it on June 18. Three years following his death, Clemons, along with the rest of the E Street Band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. market owner, and his wife Thelma. He was the oldest of their three children. His grandfather was a Southern Baptist preacher and, as a result, the young Clemons grew up in a very religious background listening to gospel music. When he was nine, his father gave him an alto saxophone as a Christmas present and paid for music lessons. He later switched to baritone saxophone and played in a high school jazz band. His uncle also influenced his early musical development when he bought him his first King Curtis album. Curtis, and his work with The Coasters in particular, would become a major influence on Clemons and led to him switching to tenor saxophone. As a youth Clemons also showed potential as a football player, and graduated from Crestwood High School (now Crestwood Middle) before attending Maryland State College on both music and football scholarships. He played as a lineman on the same team as Emerson Boozer and attracted the attention of the Cleveland Browns, who offered him a trial. Clemons also tried out for the Dallas Cowboys. However, the day before, he was involved in a serious car accident which effectively ended any plans of a career in the National Football League. He would eventually be posthumously inducted into the universitys Athletics Hall of Fame on February 24, 2012. At age 18, Clemons had one of his earliest studio experiences, recording sessions with Tyrone Ashleys Funky Music Machine, a band from Plainfield, New Jersey, that included Ray Davis, Eddie Hazel and Billy Bass Nelson, all of whom later played with Parliament-Funkadelic. He also performed with Daniel Petraitis, a New Jersey and Nashville legend. These sessions were eventually released in 2007, by Truth and Soul Records as Let Me Be Your Man. While at Maryland State College Clemons also joined his first band, The Vibratones, which played James Brown covers and stayed together for about four years between 1961 and 1965. While still playing with this band he moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he worked as a counselor for emotionally disturbed children at the Jamesburg Training School for Boys between 1962 and 1970. Outside of his work with the E Street Band, Clemons recorded with many other artists and had a number of musical projects on his own. The best known of these are his 1985 vocal duet with Jackson Browne on the Top-20 hit single Youre a Friend of Mine, and his saxophone work on Aretha Franklins 1985 Top-10 hit single Freeway of Love. He was managed briefly in the 1980s by former Crawdaddy editor Peter Knobler, whose wedding Clemons played with his band, Clarence Clemons & the Red Bank Rockers. During the 1980s Clemons also owned a Red Bank, New Jersey, nightclub called Big Mans West. He toured in the first incarnation of Ringo Starr & The All-Starr Band in 1989, singing Youre a Friend of Mine (dueting with Billy Preston) and an updated rap arrangement of Quarter to Three. In the mid-1990s, he recorded a Japan-only CD release called Aja and the Big Man Get It On with Los Angeles singer/songwriter Aja Kim. In the 2000s, Clemons along with producer Narada Michael Walden, put together a group called The Temple of Soul, releasing a single called Anna. He also recorded with philanthropic teen band Creation. Clemons collaborated with Lady Gaga on the songs Hair and The Edge of Glory from her album Born This Way, providing a saxophone track and solo. Clarence Clemons occasionally sat in with the Grateful Dead and as recently as April 2011, sat in on several tunes with the Grateful Dead spinoff band Furthur during a concert in Boca Raton Florida. Just days before he suffered a major stroke, he shot a music video with Lady Gaga for The Edge of Glory. Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12, 2011. He underwent two surgeries after which he was declared in serious but stable condition. According to Rolling Stone magazine, he had been showing signs of recovery. However, Clemons died from complications caused by the stroke on June 18, 2011. Upon announcement of Clemons death, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered all state flags to be lowered to half staff in his honor.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 05:11:22 +0000
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