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"Cripple" Clarence Lofton

Cripple Clarence Lofton (March 28, 1887 - January 9, 1957) was born Albert Clemens in Kingsport, Tennessee. Though he was born with a limp (from which he derived his stage name), Clarence actually started his career as a tap-dancer. This was not his true calling, and he showed his true talent in the blues craze known as boogie-woogie and moved on to perform in Chicago.

The trademark of Clarence's performances was his energetic stage-nature, where he danced and whistled in addition to singing. Perhaps the most comprehensive description of Cripple Clarence Lofton's stage-manner is this excerpt from Boogie Woogie by William Russell:

"No one can complain of Clarence's lack of variety or versatility. When he really gets going he's a three-ring circus. During one number, he plays, sings, whistles a chorus, and snaps his fingers with the technique of a Spanish dancer to give further percussive accompaniment to his blues. At times he turns sideways, almost with his back to the piano as he keeps pounding away at the keyboard and stomping his feet, meanwhile continuing to sing and shout at his audience or his drummer. Suddenly in the middle of a number he jumps up, his hands clasped in front of him, and walks around the piano stool, and then, unexpectedly, out booms a vocal break in a bass voice from somewhere. One second later, he has turned and is back at the keyboard, both hands flying at lightning- like pace. His actions and facial expressions are as intensely dramatic and exciting as his music."

Most of his songs were twelve-bar blues to which Lofton brought a unique excitement by dropping bars and portions of bars to end up with nine-, ten-, or eleven-bar blues songs.

With such a unique style, it wasn't long until Clarence found himself a mainstay in his genre. His first recording was in the month of April with another local success Big Bill Broonzy for Vocalion Records. He later went on to own the Big Apple nightclub in Chicago and continued to record well into the late 1940s, when he retired. Clarence lived in Chicago until he died from a blood clot in his brain.

Cripple Clarence Lofton was an integral part of the Boogie-Woogie genre in Chicago. Some of his most famous songs include: "Strut That Thing", "Monkey Man Blues", and "Pitchin' Boogie". His talent was likened to that of Pinetop Smith and others that influenced heavily in his field include: Meade Lux Lewis, Cow Cow Davenport, and Jimmy Yancey. Clarence was also said to have influenced Erwin Helfer.

• Clarence's influence on the blues is briefly highligted in the book, "A Left Hand Like God's"
• "Boogie Woogie", reprinted courtesy of the late William Russell's estate
• A biography from Document Records, from which the image on this page was also procured
• An Erwin Hefler biography site
• The most popular internet biography of "Cripple" Clarence Lofton by Cub Koda

• All Music Guide