Get To Know Carl Carlton, Blues Singer Best Known For His Hit “Everlasting Love”

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Carlton “Carl” Carlton, a rhythm and blues singer and lyricist, was born on May 21, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan, and began playing as a musician at the age of ten. “Little Carl” Carlton was his nickname. At the age of 11, he made his first recordings for Lando Records, which published “I Think of How I Love Her” and “I Love True Love.” He had some Detroit area successes in 1965, including “So What” and “Don’t You Need a Boy Like Me.”

Carlton signed with the BackBeat Record label in Houston, Texas, in 1968, and recorded his first single on that label, “Competition Ain’t Nothing,” which only reached number 36 on the Billboard R&B chart but became a massive hit in the United Kingdom. In 1970, Carlton graduated from Murray Wright High School in Detroit.

You Can’t Stop a Man in Love, a compilation album of Carlton’s songs, was published by ABC Records in 1972. Carlton’s biggest hit, “Everlasting Love,” from the album Everlasting Love, came two years later, in 1974. The single peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eleven on the Billboard R&B chart.

Carlton did not record from 1975 to 1977 due to disagreements over royalties with both the BackBeat Record label, which was sold to ABC Records in 1973, and ABC. In 1977, he signed with Mercury Records and released one single, “Something’s Wrong,” which was only moderately successful.

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Carlton collaborated with 20th Century Fox on the album Carl Carlton, which was published in 1981. This was his first gold-certified album (selling more than 500,000 units). The album featured the hit “She’s a Bad Mama Jama,” which peaked at number two on the Billboard R&B chart and stayed there for eight weeks. It also reached number 34 on the UK Singles chart. Carleton was nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male at the 24th Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 1982. Carlton released the album The Bad C.C. (RCA Victor) in 1983, and the single “Private Property” on the Casablanca label in 1985.

Carlton released the album Main Event in 1994. It was unnoticed, though, and did not chart. Eight years later, in 2002, Carlton appeared on the PBS series American Soundtrack’s “Rhythm, Love, and Soul” episode. Among the musicians featured in this magnificent show are Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, the Three Degrees, Billy Paul, and The Manhattans.

“God Is Good,” Carlton’s debut gospel hit, was released in 2010. In 2011, he was nominated for a Detroit Music Award in the category of “Outstanding Gospel/Christian Vocalist” at The Fillmore Detroit venue.

Carl Carlton was hospitalized in Detroit, Michigan, in 2019 after suffering a minor stroke. According to the New York Times Magazine, Carlton was one of hundreds of artists whose work was allegedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire.

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