Chris Clark (born February 1, 1946 in Santa Cruz, California) is an American soul singer who recorded for Motown Records. Clark became famous in England as the "white 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.
Recording on the Motown V.I.P. label, one of several Motown imprints, Chris Clark is still acknowledged by Northern Soul fans for songs such as 1965's "Do Right Baby Do Right" (by Berry Gordy) and 1966's "Love's Gone Bad" (Holland-Dozier-Holland). Another of her notable songs was the 1967 single "I Want To Go Back There Again" (Berry Gordy, Jr).
The United States' answer to Dusty Springfield, Clark, who also dated Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., managed to have only one chart hit. In the US, "Love's Gone Bad" made #105 pop, and #41 R&B in 1966. In Canada, it made it to #95 on the RPM 100.
In 1967, Clark released an album called Soul Sounds on the Motown label. The album featured twelve songs including a rare Motown ballad called "If You Should Walk Away" (Berry Gordy, Jr.) which was slated for release as a single, but never was. Clark recorded one more album for Motown on its newly created rock label Weed called CC Rides Again (1969), but the album failed commercially. Today it is considered a rare collectable, and remains the only album ever released on the label.
A CD made by Belgian label Marginal entitled Soul Sounds made from the original master tapes was issued, but the disc actually contains the songs from both her albums with Motown plus an unreleased single. A 2005 50-track double-CD compilation includes Soul Sounds, C.C. Rides Again, and many unreleased Motown recordings. A reissue 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 U.S.A.
Clark co-wrote the screenplay for the 1972 Diana Ross vehicle Lady Sings the Blues, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She later became an executive for Motown Productions' film and television division in Los Angeles.
In 1982 she married Academy Award-winning screenwriter and novelist Ernest Tidyman. He died of a perforated ulcer in 1984.
In recent years, Clark has become an art photographer and has exhibited her work mainly to art dealers and at a few galleries. She also performs on stage occasionally in clubs in the United States and in Europe. She currently lives in Santa Rosa, California.
Famous quotes containing the words chris and/or clark:
“When I get all these accolades for being true to myself, I say, “Who else can I be? I can’t be Chris Evert.””
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“In the beginning, I wanted to enter what was essentially a man’s field. I wanted to prove I could do it. Then I found that when I did as well as the men in the field I got more credit for my work because I am a woman, which seems unfair.”
—Eugenie Clark (b. 1922)