By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 05:32 pm:

Does anyone know the month and year of the death of Tony Clarke?

By LTLFTC (12.210.76.205) on Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 06:43 pm:

David ;
Several sources list the year as 1970, but so far I haven't found a month

SteveK

By acooolcat (210.200.105.227) on Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 10:43 pm:

David,
I tried to find this information by looking through the files in Detroit's main library and went through various years, but couldn't find any "Tony Clarks" that had died who were the right age. You probably know that his real name is Ralph Willimas! Anyway, I eventually got the information by going to the police homicide department.
I'll mail you off forum with the details I have.
Cheers, Graham

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 10:25 am:

Thanks so much Graham.

By SisDetroit (68.42.209.170) on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 01:20 pm:

Acooolcat - Don't keep us in the dark. I believe he was murdered by his wife. Am I right?

By LG Nilsson (213.89.29.157) on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 02:26 pm:

Found this... still no exact date...

TONY CLARKE

SOURCE: Robert Pruter, Chicago Soul

One of soul music's true flashes in the pan, Tony Clarke was born in New York and raised in Detroit, and trained to be a chef.

When Billy Davis became the A&R director at Chess Records in 1961, he hired his friend Clarke to write material for some of the label's artists. Clarke penned the R&B hits "Pushover" and "Two Sides To Every Story" for Etta James, after which Davis signed him as an artist.

Clarke recorded twelve sides for Chess. The most successful, in the spring of 1965, was "The Entertainer," a variation on the classic theme of the happy-go-lucky showbiz star who is miserable when alone. It made the R&B top ten and the pop top forty.

When no further hits followed, Clarke left Chess in 1966. He formed his own company, Earthquake Productions, and recorded "Ghetto Man," a minor West Coast hit. Clarke also tried his hand at acting, and had a bit part in the 1970 Sidney Poitier film, They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! Not long afterward, Clarke died in his Detroit home, killed by his wife as she defended herself against one of his frequent beatings.

Lars

By acooolcat (210.200.105.226) on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 10:07 pm:

Sis
Tony's (estranged) wife said that she shot him as he tried to force entry into her home late one night.
Some people have told me that they think there was another man was in the house, and that's who actually shot Tony. Who knows?
The police officer told me that his widow was found dead a year or so later - chopped up in a realtors office on Woodward.
Graham

By SisDetroit (68.42.209.170) on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 10:47 pm:

Graham - OMG - So, some people are probably right. She took the blame for whoever chopped her up, and later paid for it with her life. Horrible.