Obit: RIP Terry Clarke (1948 - 2020)

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke (1948? - 2020)
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Dec 20 - 09:41 AM

Hi, this is Kate, Terry's wife. I've only just seen these posts about Terry. Many thanks for your warm words. He was a prince - such a gentle soul - and I'm very glad to have had him in my life for 16 years. I have released an album of Terry's that he had completed but not issued, before his death: Walk Like a King. And if anyone wants to find this or some of Terry's back-catalogue for sale I have put them up on Bandcamp, here: https://terryclarke1.bandcamp.com/ Details and sleeve notes about the new album, can be found here: https://www.kteltowers.com/post/walk-like-a-king. All the best, Kate C x

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Dec 20 - 05:24 PM

The first post was the contents of this obituary that ran in The Guardian on April 22, 2020.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/22/terry-clarke-obituary

ALL Music obituary

Michael Messer Forum - post about Clarke's death. This one has lists of songs and links to YouTube videos.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 20 - 02:11 PM

Hello Kate, So sorry to read just now of the death of Terry. I met him on a couple of occasions when he gigged in Ireland with Henry McCoullagh. What great gigs they were. Terry was a wonderful talent and a really lovely man. Still listen to Shelly River regularly and will do so again tonight. Especially American Lipstick..for the night that is in it. Regards and sincere condolences. Carl Duggan.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: GUEST,Peter Roberts ( Feedback Mag )
Date: 04 May 20 - 03:29 AM

Hello Kate,
          So very sorry at your very sad loss and can,t imagine how you are coping. Terry was a very special and talented man and you had such a wonderful relationship. I had recently being trying to contact you, not knowing what had happened, I wish there was something I could do. If you ever want to talk please get in touch. Lily who you work with can give you my details as her Dad is in our band and you may still have my number. I'm thinking of you Peter

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 11:57 AM

Please note that I shared the obituary that was written by Kate Clarke.
There are many wonderful tributes to Terry, memories, tales, photos, videos being posted on Kate's facebook page - think you need to ask to be her friend to view them?
I met Terry while he was living in Argyll, and I needed a musician to assist our performance group Dalriada Fencibles.
(I had no idea he was a working singer songwriter, thought he was just a guy who played guitar!)
Most of our productions were based around the life and times of Robert Burns, and written by the late Janette Valentine. Terry came along to our rehearsals - and fell in love with Burns! I gave him a book of the poems and songs of Robert Burns and he immediately composed a tune for The Slave's Lament as he couldn't wait for me to sing him the original tune.
Most of the songs we used in the productions were either from Burns or the Scots tradition - but after Terry joined us he composed and sang a number of beautiful songs which greatly enhanced the performances.
We have all been greatly saddened by the loss untimely of Terry, and only a couple of years after Janette's passing.
The Dalriada Fencibles years were memorable, a privilege to be part of. Terry Clarke's songs will live on-----

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 26 Apr 20 - 07:30 AM

I was sorry to hear this news. My condolences to you and to all those who know and love him. I have added his name to the "In Memoriam" thread. RIP

Subject: RE: 2020 Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 08:54 PM

I am sorry to hear this. My condolences, Kate.   I have several of his albums which I have thoroughly enjoyed, particularly 'Shelly River' and 'Mother Indigo'. My favourite song of his is 'American lipstick'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 07:21 PM

Sorry for your loss, Kate. I hosted a radio show in Northern Ireland some years ago and I discovered Terry's Shelly River CD. It was one of the most original CDs of that time and I played it regularly without ever knowing who Terry was. I never heard any more of his work but I will certainly search out some of his later CDs that you mentioned in his obit. RIP Terry.

Subject: RE: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 04:56 PM

How very sad, my condolences to you.

Subject: Obit: RIP Terry Clarke
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 24 Apr 20 - 04:55 PM

Terry Clarke obituary
Kate Clarke
My husband Terry Clarke, who has died aged 72, was a singer-songwriter of great poetic powers. He released 14 albums across a fruitful career that revealed his love of country, rockabilly, blues, folk and Irish laments.

Among his fans (and champions) was the great Johnny Cash. Cash wrote the sleeve notes for the 1993 album he made with Jesse “Guitar” Taylor and Michael Messer, Rhythm Oil, a concoction of driving blues, rock’n’roll and Tex Mex.

Terry was born in Reading, Berkshire, to Joseph Clarke, an Irish labourer who had emigrated to England as a 14-year-old, and his wife, Florence (nee Edmonds), who worked in the local Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory.

In the 1950s Terry grew up in thrall to Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Conway Twitty, and in the 60s, after attending Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic school, he moved on to Robert Palmer, Sam & Dave and Geno Washington, working as a shop assistant in the Harry Fenton fashion store in Reading, kitting out the mods and turning heads with his tonic suits and Terence Stamp cheekbones.

He began his musical career as a young teenager playing guitar in local country music groups, including the Statesmen, and moved on to be a singer and guitarist in various reggae and soul bands, until in the late 70s and early 80s he fronted and was a co-writer in the soul/funk/pop band Domino Effect, who released three singles. His first album as Terry Clarke was Call Up a Hurricane (1988), which featured his compositions of Texas rock’n’roll and classic country balladry.

Alongside his musical adventures Terry ran a window cleaning business in Reading and could often be found “on the shine” in the town centre during the early mornings. Picking up the stories of the streets, hanging out in cafes and observing the town’s characters was a part of his creative process, as was spending time by the Thames river at nearby Mapledurham, exercising his keen eye for nature, light and beauty.

Terry’s 1991 album, The Shelly River, featured a number of songs inspired by his father’s emigration experiences, and on the back of its success he toured Ireland with Henry McCullough, a former member of Spooky Tooth, Wings and the Grease Band who became a great friend.

During the 90s and early 2000s Terry also cut a handful of warm, breezy albums in Austin, Texas, a place that he loved like a native son. He spent a lot of time recording and performing in the city, including, on one occasion, opening a show for one of his heroes, Merle Haggard, alongside Taylor.

I was a fan of Terry’s: we met at a gig in 2004, fell in love, moved together to Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, and got married in 2008.

In Wales he continued to record music, and his final album, Atomic 10, issued in 2015, revealed a songwriter whose skills had matured and grown with the passing years.

He is survived by me and his daughter, Amy, from his earlier marriage to Sheila Prescott, which ended in divorce. His son by that marriage, Joseph, predeceased him.