Sanford Clark

Sanford Clark (born 1935) is an American country/rockabilly singer and guitarist best known for his 1956 hit "The Fool".

Biography

Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma but was raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He first began performing in the Phoenix area in the early 1950s. He spent time in the Air Force in the South Pacific; he formed a band there which won a talent show in Hawaii. [http://wm05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:a9fwxqt5ldae~T1 Sanford Clark] at Allmusic] Returning to Phoenix, he and his friend Al Casey met Lee Hazlewood, then a local disc jockey. Clark, with Casey on guitar, recorded one of Hazlewood's songs, "The Fool", on MCI Records in 1956. Dot Records picked the song up for national distribution after a Philadelphia deejay tipped them off to it. The song became a hit in the U.S., peaking at #14 on the Country Singles cahart, #5 on the Black Singles chart, and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. [http://wm05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:a9fwxqt5ldae~T5 Billboard Singles] , Allmusic.com] Following the song's success, Clark opened on tour for Ray Price and Roy Orbison.

Clark's 1957 follow-up single, "The Cheat", gave him a second minor hit, peaking at #74 Pop. He and Dot Records' owner Ron Wood quarreled over the singer's image, and he eventually signed to Jamie Records in 1958, working with Duane Eddy alongside Casey and Hazlewood. Moving to Hollywood, he recorded for several further labels, and had several almost-comebacks; his 1964 version of Hazlewood's "Houston" was eclipsed by Dean Martin's version, and in 1965 he re-recorded "The Fool" with Waylon Jennings on guitar. Hazlewood, by now an established songwriter, signed Clark to his own label, LHI, on which Clark released "Return of the Fool" in 1969. A few years later Clark left the music business, working in construction, though he occasionally recorded in later decades on his own label, Desert Sun Records.

References