Staff Report
BRANT NEWS

Canadian Music Hall of Fame member David Clayton-Thomas will headline this year’s fifth annual Brantford International Jazz Festival.

The former Blood Sweat and Tears frontman’s rise to stardom took him from being a homeless street kid to a revered songwriter who has sold more than 40 million records.

Clayton-Thomas joined Blood Sweat and Tears during the late 1960s and continued to tour with the jazz-rock band into the early 2000s.

The band’s self-titled debut album sold 10 million copies worldwide, topped the Billboard album chart for seven weeks and won five Grammy Awards.

Over the years, Clayton-Thomas performed with Blood Sweat and Tears at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, the Hollywood Bowl, Madison Square Garden and Caesars Palace.

In 2004, he returned to his hometown of Toronto to launch an all-star 10-piece band under his own name.

In 1996, Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and in 2007 his Blood Sweat and Tears song Spinning Wheel was enshrined in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was awarded a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

Clayton-Thomas will perform at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. The Brantford International Jazz Festival runs Sept. 14 to Sept. 16.