| Blowfly | |
|---|---|
On stage, circa 2005. |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Clarence Reid |
| Born | February 14, 1945 |
| Origin | Cochran, Georgia, U.S. |
| Genres | Comedy, Funk, Soul, rap |
| Occupations | comedian, vocalist, songwriter |
| Instruments | vocals |
| Labels | Alternative Tentacles |
Blowfly is the stage name and alternate persona of Clarence Reid (born February 14, 1939[1] or 1945,[2] (sources differ) in Cochran, Georgia),[2] who was a songwriter for many hit R&B acts in the 1960s and 1970s. As Blowfly, he has recorded numerous albums, mostly of sex-based parodies of other songs, as well as original raps themed around sex. His stage name originated from his grandmother, who overheard him as a child singing "Do the Twist" as "Suck My Dick", and said "You is nastier than a blowfly." An alternate spelling used for his name on some of his early recordings is Blow Fly.
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Reid started off writing songs for artists including Betty Wright, Sam & Dave, Gwen McCrae, and KC & the Sunshine Band. He also recorded many songs of his own in the '60s and '70s including "Nobody But You Babe".
Reid would write sexually explicit versions of hit songs for fun but only performed them for his friends at parties or in the studio. In 1971 he along with a band of studio musicians recorded a whole album of "dirty" songs under the name "Blowfly". Back then, no record label would release profane material so he distributed the records himself on his own independent record label, Weird World.
The album, The Weird World of Blowfly, features Reid dressed as a low-rent supervillain on its cover. Reid created this alter ego to protect his career as a songwriter. Reid continued to perform in increasingly bizarre costumes as his Blowfly character. The albums were widely popular as "party records" in the '70s.
Many of Blowfly's songs featured his style of talking in rhyme which can be considered a primitive form of rapping. After rap music hit the mainstream with Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", Reid recorded a profane version of "Rapp Dirty" titled "Blowfly's Rapp [sic]". The song was a hit and helped the album, Blowfly's Party, reach #26 on Billboard magazine's Black Albums chart and #82 on the Billboard Top 200 in 1980. "Rapp Dirty" was sampled by The Avalanches on the song "Electricity" from their 2000 album Since I Left You, and is among Blowfly's songs to have been sampled in numerous hip hop and electronic songs.
Blowfly's profane style earned Reid legal trouble. He was sued by songwriter Stanley Adams, who was ASCAP president at the time, for spoofing "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" as "What a Difference a Lay Makes".
After 17 years of sporadic touring and occasional re-recording of his classic raps, Blowfly signed with Jello Biafra's independent Alternative Tentacles label in 2005. His first album for Alternative Tentacles, Fahrenheit 69 (2005), featured appearances from Slug of Atmosphere, King Coleman, Gravy Train, and Afroman. Other recent tours have included a headlining appearance at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans and shows with Rudy Ray Moore (Dolemite), Devin The Dude, and Blueprint. In March 2007, Blowfly completed his first tour of Australia.
Blowfly's second Alternative Tentacles release is Blowfly's Punk Rock Party. The album features several punk classics given the Blowfly treatment, including a rewrite of the Dead Kennedys song "Holiday in Cambodia" recast as "R. Kelly in Cambodia", that features Biafra (the song's composer and original singer) playing a trial judge.
In 2008 Blowfly toured Germany with Die Ärzte.
Blowfly performed at the Big Day Out 2010, a music festival held in Australia and New Zealand every January.
A documentary about Blowfly, The Weird World of Blowfly, directed by Jonathan Furmanski, premiered at the 2010 South by Southwest film festival. It was released in theaters and on DVD in September 2011.[3]