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

David Clayton-Thomas, lead singer and songwriter of the jazz rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears, died Wednesday at 84, the singer’s publicist confirms to ABC News.

According to the publicist, Clayton-Thomas “died peacefully” at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, on September 13, 1941, Clayton-Thomas joined Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968, following the departure of the band’s original frontman Al Kooper. He landed the gig after folk singer Judy Collins heard him performing and told Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby about him.

With Clayton-Thomas singing lead, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ 1968 self-titled sophomore album became a huge hit, spending seven weeks on top of the Billboard Albums chart and winning the Grammy for album of the year in 1970, beating The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

The album spawned three hits: “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel” and “And When I Die.” All three songs peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 13 weeks in that position.

In 1970, following the album’s success, the band went on the State Department-sponsored Iron Curtain tour visiting countries Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland, which drew criticism from fans. The tour was the subject of a 2023 documentary, What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? 

The band continued to release hit albums, including 1970’s Blood, Sweat & Tears 3, which spent two weeks on top of the Billboard 200, and 1971’s Blood, Sweat & Tears 4, which was a top-10 hit.

Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972 to pursue a solo career, releasing his self-titled solo debut that year. He went on to release nearly a dozen solo albums over the course of his career, his last being 2020’s Say Somethin’.

Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996, and Blood, Sweat & Tears’ iconic track “Spinning Wheel” was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. Clayton-Thomas also received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2010.

Clayton-Thomas’ life and music will be celebrated with a memorial concert at a later date. Proceeds will benefit  Peacebuilders Canada.