Blood, Sweat & Tears singer David Clayton-Thomas dies at 84

Canadian musician David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of the rock jazz band Blood, Sweat & Tears, has died at the age of 84. His publicist, Eric Alper, said overnight between Thursday and Friday that Clayton-Thomas died peacefully yesterday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. No cause of death was disclosed.

Clayton-Thomas joined the band in 1968 and became a key figure in its commercial peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During his time with the group, Blood, Sweat & Tears released major hits including "Spinning Wheel," "You’ve Made Me So Very Happy" and "And When I Die." Its second self-titled album, the first on which he appeared, won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970.

While with the band, he performed at Woodstock and took part in a controversial U.S. State Department tour in 1970. He left the group in 1972 for a solo career and continued recording and performing for decades. He returned to Toronto in 2004, and his last album was released in 2019.

Clayton-Thomas is survived by two daughters. Earlier this week, the legendary music producer Clive Davis, who founded Columbia Records and discovered Clayton-Thomas in the 1960s, also died.