Calvin Scott

Blind soul singer
Born on 6 January 1938, in Tuskegee, Alabama
Soul singer and pianist Calvin Scott started out as a partner of Clarence Carter before moving to record as a solo artist for Stax. Born in Tuskegee, AL, on January 6, 1938, Scott began playing the piano at age five, and first met Carter while attending a school for the blind in Talladega. Scott played several instruments in the school band, and formed a partnership with Carter. With the help of some older friends they’d impressed, the two got a record deal with Fairlane in 1961, but soon moved on to Duke. In 1965, recording under the name Clarence & Calvin, the duo cut several songs at the famed Muscle Shoals studios, one of which — the ballad “Step by Step” — was given a wider national release by Atlantic. The two assembled a small backing band and played regularly in Birmingham in 1966, but unfortunately, their partnership soon ended. Scott was seriously injured in a car accident after a gig one night, and wound up taking Carter to court for help paying his medical bills. Upon his recovery, Scott switched to the organ, formed his own band, and gigged around the South. He landed a solo deal with Atlantic, recording four songs over 1968-1969, and in 1971 he switched over to Stax. The following year, he recorded his first and only full-length album, I’m Not Blind, I Just Can’t See, with Clarence Paul (Stevie Wonder, etc.) producing and members of the Jazz Crusaders supplying studio backing. Discouraged by the lack of promotion for the attendant singles “Shame on the Family Name” and “A Sadness for Things,” Scott quit the music business and returned to Alabama, where he took a job with the state government and continued to perform on a local basis. Scott’s son, Calvin Scott Jr., went on to become a smooth jazz saxophonist.