OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:46 PM – Thursday, May 14, 2026
Clarence Carter, the blind Southern soul titan whose gritty, raspy baritone navigated the delicate line between heart-wrenching blues and R&B for more than six decades, passed on Wednesday at the age of 90.
His death was confirmed on Thursday by Bill Carpenter, a spokesperson for Carter’s former wife and longtime collaborator Candi Staton. According to Carpenter, the legendary singer-songwriter passed away from “natural causes,” though recent reports from FAME Recording Studios president Rodney Hall also noted that Carter had been quietly battling stage 4 prostate cancer.
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Born blind in Montgomery, Alabama, on January 14, 1936, Carter refused to let his lack of sight dictate his future. He naturally taught himself to play guitar by listening to records and eventually earned a degree in music from Alabama State College.
His professional journey began in the early 1960s as part of the duo Clarence & Calvin, but a tragic car accident involving his musical partner, Calvin Scott, forced Carter to forge a solo path. It was a path that would lead him to the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, where he helped define the “Muscle Shoals Sound” alongside icons like Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett.
Carter’s career was defined by its incredible versatility and emotional range. In 1968, he struck gold with the soul-searing “Slip Away” and the follow-up “Too Weak to Fight,” both of which highlighted his ability to deliver “cheating songs” with a unique sense of vulnerability.
However, it was 1970’s “Patches” that cemented his place in music history. The song, a poignant narrative of a boy forced into manhood by family tragedy, became a global smash, earning him a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.
The singer’s personal life was as intertwined with the music industry as his professional one. he was briefly married to soul singer Candi Staton in the early 1970s, with whom he had a son, Clarence Carter Jr.
Despite the shifting tides of the music industry, Carter remained a persistent force on the touring circuit well into his late 80s. He often told interviewers that he would keep performing until “Old Man Death” came to run him down.
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