Biography
Detroit native Carl Carlton entered the music industry via an unexpected link to baseball. A resident shouted from an upstairs window at youngsters playing on an empty lot, ordering them to quit their game and switch off what sounded like a radio. The kids shot back that the voice belonged to Carl, not any broadcast. Curious, the neighbor hurried downstairs to locate the remarkable singer. This encounter led the man to bring Carlton to Lando Records, where the teenager cut his first sides in the late 1960s under the name Little Carl Carlton. The debut release was “I Love True Love.”
Prior church singing and secret club performances arranged by his older siblings had already given him stage experience. When the follow-up “Competition Ain’t Nothing” began gaining traction in summer 1968, Don Robey’s Back Beat label acquired it. Carlton signed with the company and relocated to Houston. The move took the young Detroiter from the city’s storied Black Bottom district to mornings filled with country air and the lowing of Jersey cows on Robey’s expansive ranch. Between tours and sessions he sang at the Duke Peacock club, which shared its name with Robey’s second imprint.
During those years Carlton collaborated with the then-struggling writing and production team Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, with David Crawford—known for Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free”—and with Bunny Sigler. Several modest hits appeared on Back Beat in the late 1960s and early 1970s, among them “46 Drums - 1 Guitar,” “Oh Mary How I Got Over,” “I Can Feel It,” and “Drop By My Place,” the last reaching the R&B Top 20 and pop Top 40. After Don Robey sold Duke Peacock and Back Beat to ABC Records in 1972, a collection titled You Can’t Stop a Man in Love compiled Carlton’s earlier singles.
Friend and former Temptation David Ruffin played Carlton a track called “Everlasting Love.” Unaware that Robert Knight had already scored a Top Ten hit with it in 1967, Carlton recorded the song. His first ABC single paired “I Wanna Be Your Main Squeeze” with a subdued version of “Everlasting Love.” Re-cut with a disco-oriented arrangement by Nashville producer Papa Don Schroder—previously responsible for Bobby & James Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet”—the track became Carlton’s first Top Ten pop success in 1974, climbing to number six on the pop chart and number 11 R&B. The accompanying album Everlasting Love, overseen by Bob Monaco (Rufus, Three Dog Night), yielded two further singles: “Morning Noon and Night” and a reading of Rufus’s “Smokin’ Room,” which supplied Carlton’s second pop hit.
In 1975 Carlton traveled to Philadelphia to work once more with Bunny Sigler. Although the resulting album I Wanna Be With You credits MFSB, the core rhythm section was actually Instant Funk, the same unit that would score a million-seller four years later with “I Got My Mind Made Up.” Reviewers praised the relaxed, supple vocal performances, which contrasted with the more forceful style of the previous record. Despite favorable notices in Right On and the release of three singles—“Ain’t Been No One Before You” (January 1976), “Ain’t Gonna Tell Nobody (About You)” (summer 1976), and “Live for Today, Not for Tomorrow” (late winter 1976)—the album charted modestly, a result some attributed to an ongoing royalty dispute with ABC. For eighteen months Carlton waited for his contract to expire before he could record again.
He resurfaced in late 1977 on Mercury with the lush ballad “You You,” produced by the Dramatics’ L.J. Reynolds and musical director John Brinson, backed by the funky blues number “Something’s Wrong.” Two additional tracks from the sessions remained unreleased. With time on his hands, Carlton embraced fitness; weightlifting and jogging became daily habits, and boxer Thomas “Hitman” Hearns became his training partner. He continued performing locally in Detroit. Many industry figures offered collaboration, yet only veteran soul singer Leon Haywood followed through, flying Carlton to California and cutting two sides in his studio. The resulting 20th Century single paired a cover of Haywood’s own “This Feeling’s Rated Xtra” with James Ingram’s “Fighting in the Name of Love.” Modest airplay prompted the label to issue “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” next. The track earned gold certification in 1981, holding the number-two R&B position for eight weeks before Diana Ross and Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love” displaced it. The self-titled album Carl Carlton, whose cover displayed the singer’s chiseled physique, also went gold.
Success brought appearances on Solid Gold, Soul Train, and American Bandstand, plus major-venue dates alongside Rick James. Follow-up single “I Think It’s Gonna Be Alright” briefly charted. In later years numerous rappers sampled “She’s a Bad Mama Jama.” The next album, The Bad CC on RCA, featured a synth-driven reading of the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving,” produced by David Rubinson and Friends and containing one of Patrick Cowley’s final performances. The single fared well domestically and reached the Australian Top Ten; its B-side, “Everyone Can Be a Star,” co-written by Carlton and Gavin Christopher, stands as one of his most autobiographical statements.
Carlton’s sixth album, Private Property, appeared on Casablanca in 1986. Seeking another hit, the title track and lead single echoed the “Mama Jama” formula and climbed the upper half of the R&B chart. Follow-up “Slipped, Tripped and Fall in Love” performed similarly, yet the album offered more: one of Allen Jones’s final productions, supported by the Bar-Kays, a tender cover of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” Sam Dees’s “Mama’s Boy,” and the deeply felt ballad “Never Got Over You,” often cited among Carlton’s finest recordings. Dropped by Casablanca, he reunited with Leon Haywood in 1994 for the single “Rock N Roll” backed with “Main Event.” Despite earlier admissions of signing unfavorable contracts in pursuit of quick money, the lyrics of “Main Event” reflect his perseverance: “Obstacles have come at me/although somehow I’ve overcome/I can see the prize just waiting there/so through the maze of life I run I run/I fight each battle round by round/maintain my quest for higher ground.” The full-length Main Event followed later that year.
Prior church singing and secret club performances arranged by his older siblings had already given him stage experience. When the follow-up “Competition Ain’t Nothing” began gaining traction in summer 1968, Don Robey’s Back Beat label acquired it. Carlton signed with the company and relocated to Houston. The move took the young Detroiter from the city’s storied Black Bottom district to mornings filled with country air and the lowing of Jersey cows on Robey’s expansive ranch. Between tours and sessions he sang at the Duke Peacock club, which shared its name with Robey’s second imprint.
During those years Carlton collaborated with the then-struggling writing and production team Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, with David Crawford—known for Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free”—and with Bunny Sigler. Several modest hits appeared on Back Beat in the late 1960s and early 1970s, among them “46 Drums - 1 Guitar,” “Oh Mary How I Got Over,” “I Can Feel It,” and “Drop By My Place,” the last reaching the R&B Top 20 and pop Top 40. After Don Robey sold Duke Peacock and Back Beat to ABC Records in 1972, a collection titled You Can’t Stop a Man in Love compiled Carlton’s earlier singles.
Friend and former Temptation David Ruffin played Carlton a track called “Everlasting Love.” Unaware that Robert Knight had already scored a Top Ten hit with it in 1967, Carlton recorded the song. His first ABC single paired “I Wanna Be Your Main Squeeze” with a subdued version of “Everlasting Love.” Re-cut with a disco-oriented arrangement by Nashville producer Papa Don Schroder—previously responsible for Bobby & James Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet”—the track became Carlton’s first Top Ten pop success in 1974, climbing to number six on the pop chart and number 11 R&B. The accompanying album Everlasting Love, overseen by Bob Monaco (Rufus, Three Dog Night), yielded two further singles: “Morning Noon and Night” and a reading of Rufus’s “Smokin’ Room,” which supplied Carlton’s second pop hit.
In 1975 Carlton traveled to Philadelphia to work once more with Bunny Sigler. Although the resulting album I Wanna Be With You credits MFSB, the core rhythm section was actually Instant Funk, the same unit that would score a million-seller four years later with “I Got My Mind Made Up.” Reviewers praised the relaxed, supple vocal performances, which contrasted with the more forceful style of the previous record. Despite favorable notices in Right On and the release of three singles—“Ain’t Been No One Before You” (January 1976), “Ain’t Gonna Tell Nobody (About You)” (summer 1976), and “Live for Today, Not for Tomorrow” (late winter 1976)—the album charted modestly, a result some attributed to an ongoing royalty dispute with ABC. For eighteen months Carlton waited for his contract to expire before he could record again.
He resurfaced in late 1977 on Mercury with the lush ballad “You You,” produced by the Dramatics’ L.J. Reynolds and musical director John Brinson, backed by the funky blues number “Something’s Wrong.” Two additional tracks from the sessions remained unreleased. With time on his hands, Carlton embraced fitness; weightlifting and jogging became daily habits, and boxer Thomas “Hitman” Hearns became his training partner. He continued performing locally in Detroit. Many industry figures offered collaboration, yet only veteran soul singer Leon Haywood followed through, flying Carlton to California and cutting two sides in his studio. The resulting 20th Century single paired a cover of Haywood’s own “This Feeling’s Rated Xtra” with James Ingram’s “Fighting in the Name of Love.” Modest airplay prompted the label to issue “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” next. The track earned gold certification in 1981, holding the number-two R&B position for eight weeks before Diana Ross and Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love” displaced it. The self-titled album Carl Carlton, whose cover displayed the singer’s chiseled physique, also went gold.
Success brought appearances on Solid Gold, Soul Train, and American Bandstand, plus major-venue dates alongside Rick James. Follow-up single “I Think It’s Gonna Be Alright” briefly charted. In later years numerous rappers sampled “She’s a Bad Mama Jama.” The next album, The Bad CC on RCA, featured a synth-driven reading of the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving,” produced by David Rubinson and Friends and containing one of Patrick Cowley’s final performances. The single fared well domestically and reached the Australian Top Ten; its B-side, “Everyone Can Be a Star,” co-written by Carlton and Gavin Christopher, stands as one of his most autobiographical statements.
Carlton’s sixth album, Private Property, appeared on Casablanca in 1986. Seeking another hit, the title track and lead single echoed the “Mama Jama” formula and climbed the upper half of the R&B chart. Follow-up “Slipped, Tripped and Fall in Love” performed similarly, yet the album offered more: one of Allen Jones’s final productions, supported by the Bar-Kays, a tender cover of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” Sam Dees’s “Mama’s Boy,” and the deeply felt ballad “Never Got Over You,” often cited among Carlton’s finest recordings. Dropped by Casablanca, he reunited with Leon Haywood in 1994 for the single “Rock N Roll” backed with “Main Event.” Despite earlier admissions of signing unfavorable contracts in pursuit of quick money, the lyrics of “Main Event” reflect his perseverance: “Obstacles have come at me/although somehow I’ve overcome/I can see the prize just waiting there/so through the maze of life I run I run/I fight each battle round by round/maintain my quest for higher ground.” The full-length Main Event followed later that year.
Albums
Lights out in Wonderland
2014
God Is Good
2010
Everlasting: The Best Of Carl Carlton
2009
Love Thang
2007
Carl Carlton (Expanded Edition)
1981
Singles
Live
