Song:Love's Gone Bad
Album:The Motown Anthology
Here's a very interesting curio from the Motown catalog. Chris Clark may have been the first white artist signed by Motown. She became very popular in England but never caught on in the US. Love's Gone Bad was her only chart single. But she had a lot of success behind the scenes at Motown. She was born Feb. 1, 1946 in Santa Cruz, CA. That alone makes her interesting because she's not from Detroit. Like another Los Angeles native Brenda Holloway, Chris was discovered by Motown's California talent scout Hal Davis. Motown owner Berry Gordy didn't like her demo but liked her voice and signed her to a contract. The two wrote songs together and also had a romantic relationship. Chris Clark had her biggest hit in 1966 with the Holland-Dozier-Holland song Love's Gone Bad. It reached #41 on the R & B Singles chart. But in England she became very popular and was dubbed The White Negress. So this 2CD comp of Chris Clark's music is from Motown in England. By 1969, Gordy started a film division of Motown and Chris Clark was named Vice President. She also received a screenplay credit for co-writing the film Lady Sings The Blues. In the 80s she became head of creative affairs at Motown. She is a gifted photographer and was responsible for a lot of Motown's visuals. She still sells photographs on her website and performs occasionally. So Chris Clark is a very interesting part of Motown history. Here's a video of Love's Gone Bad by Chris Clark.
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