Clarence Paul

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Clarence Paul was a songwriter and record producer for Detroit's Motown label. Born Clarence Pauling, he was the brother of legendary "5" Royales guitarist Lowman Pauling. Their father was a coal miner in Bluefield, West Virginia, where the brothers listened to country music on the town's only radio station. Lowman Pauling Sr. later moved his family to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the brothers would join a gospel group, the Royal Sons Quintet, later to become the "5" Royales. Paul dropped the "ing" from his last name after moving to Detroit in the 1950s. At Motown he gained fame as Stevie Wonder's main producer during his teenage years, produced early Temptations records in the mode of the "5" Royales, and wrote such hits as "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" for Wonder, "Hitch Hike" for Marvin Gaye, and "The Tears of a Clown" for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. Paul retired to Las Vegas, dying in the mid-1990s.

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"I did some tunes on (the Temptations), and they sounded so much like the '5' Royales when I got through, they decided they wanted to change their name! I did one tune on Paul Williams -- it's called, 'Baby, It Don't Have To Be Like This.' But that sounds just like the '5' Royales!" - Clarence Paul