Clarence Carter Biography

Carter was born blind on January 14, 1936, in Montgomery, Alabama. He was drawn to music right away and taught himself to play the guitar by listening to John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Jimmy Reed's blues classics. At Alabama State University, he studied music and learned to transcribe charts and arrangements in Braille. Carter founded the duet, Clarence & Calvin, with his blind classmate Calvin Scott in 1960, signed to the Fairlane label and released I Wanna Dance But I Don't Know How the following year. Clarence & Calvin departed Fairlane for the Duke label after the success of I Don't Know (School Girl) in 1962, dubbing themselves the C & C Boys for their label debut, Hey Marvin. The duo recorded four Duke singles, none of which received more than a shrug on radio; ultimately, in 1965, they paid $85 to record the agonizing ballad Step by Step and its flip side, Rooster Knees and Rice, at Rick Hall's Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals, AL. Clarence & Calvin were introduced to Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler by Atlanta radio personality Zenas Sears, and the label released Step by Step on its Atco subsidiary — the album failed to chart, and the pair was on the lookout for a new label.

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