Josh Clayton-Felt
| Josh Clayton-Felt |
|---|
| Birth name |
Josh Clayton |
|---|
| Born |
(1967-05-18)May 18, 1967 |
|---|
| Died |
January 19, 2000(2000-01-19) (aged 32) |
|---|
| Genres |
Alternative rock |
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| Occupation(s) |
Musician, producer, songwriter |
|---|
| Instruments |
Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboard |
|---|
| Years active |
1990–2000 |
|---|
| Labels |
Capitol, A&M, Dreamworks |
|---|
| Associated acts |
School of Fish |
|---|
| Website |
www.joshclayton.com |
|---|
Josh Clayton-Felt (May 18, 1967 – January 19, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He co-founded the alternative rock band School of Fish and later embarked on a solo career.
Biography
Clayton-Felt was one of two children along with his sister Laura born to Marilyn and John Clayton.[1] His parents later divorced and his mother would eventually remarry Henry Felt, a folk musician who exposed Clayton-Felt to the works of Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger.[1] He grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and attended high school at the Cambridge School of Weston. He later enrolled at Brown University, but discontinued studies soon after to found the band School of Fish.
Clayton-Felt moved to Los Angeles after leaving Brown to form The Boon with fellow CSW-alumni Andras Jones. During this time he worked for acclaimed comedy director Robert B. Weide in 1987 as an informal office assistant during the production of Swear to Tell the Truth. School of Fish later went on to be a highly successful American band in the late 1980s through the mid- 1990s. Weide delivered the eulogy at Clayton-Felt's funeral, after his death from choriocarcinoma [1] (a rare form of testicular cancer[2] with the worst prognosis of all germ-cell cancers[3]) in early 2000.
After the breakup of School of Fish, Clayton-Felt released an album independently in 1994, and landed a deal with A&M Records in 1996. His album, Inarticulate Nature Boy, was released in February 1996.[4] It scored airplay on college radio, and led to tours with Tori Amos and Del Amitri.[5] The record did not sell well and Clayton-Felt was dropped; he had been writing a follow-up record, to be titled Center of Six, which he continued to work on in 1998 and 1999 with session drummer Steve Scully.
In December 1999, while still writing for the album, Clayton-Felt was diagnosed with choriocarcinoma, a particularly aggressive cancer, and died a month later at the age of 32.[1] In 2002, Dreamworks Records released a collection of songs from the unfinished Center of Six sessions[4] under the name Spirit Touches Ground.[6] Talking Cloud Records released an album under the Center of Six name in 2003.[7]
Discography
- School of Fish
- Solo
References
- 1 2 3 4 Strauss, Neil (January 31, 2000). "Josh Clayton-Felt, 32, Guitarist And Rock Singer and Songwriter". The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ↑ Cuomo, Chris (February 12, 2002). "Musician Josh Clayton-Felt's Last Album". ABC News. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
- ↑ Verville, Kathleen M. (2009). Testicular Cancer. Infobase Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 9781604131666.
- 1 2 Flick, Larry (March 9, 2002). "Sibling Carries On Clayton-Felt Legacy". Billboard. p. 14. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ↑ Seigal, Buddy (July 11, 1996). "Articulate in His Own Vernacular". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
- ↑ Schabe, Patrick (April 22, 2002). "Josh Clayton-Felt: Spirit Touches Ground". PopMatters. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
- ↑ Schabe, Patrick (July 8, 2003). "Josh Clayton-Felt and Friends: Center of Six". PopMatters. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
External links