In 2010, David Clayton-Thomas received his star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
11 Facts About David Clayton-Thomas
2.
David Clayton-Thomas began his music career in the early 1960s, working the clubs on Toronto's Yonge Street, where he discovered his love of singing and playing the blues.
3.
David Clayton-Thomas was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, the son of Fred Thomsett, a decorated Canadian soldier of World War II.
4.
David Clayton-Thomas was arrested several times for vagrancy, petty theft, and street brawls and spent his teen years bouncing in and out of various jails and reformatories, including the Burwash Industrial Farm.
5.
David Clayton-Thomas inherited a love for music from his mother, and when an old guitar came into his possession, left behind by an outgoing inmate, he began to teach himself to play.
6.
David Clayton-Thomas made his mark more forcibly with his next band, The Bossmen, one of the first rock bands anywhere to include jazz musicians.
7.
One night in 1966 after "sitting in" with blues singer John Lee Hooker in Yorkville, David Clayton-Thomas left with him for New York.
8.
David Clayton-Thomas survived by playing "basket houses", where performers were given a few minutes of stage time and then passed the basket.
9.
David Clayton-Thomas seemed so genuine, so in command of the lyric.
10.
David Clayton-Thomas left the band in 1972, exhausted by life on the road.
11.
In 2004, David Clayton-Thomas left New York for Toronto and launched an All-Star 10-piece band.