The recent passing of Canadian singer David Clayton Thomas has been a reminder that his group Blood, Sweat and Tears were once bigger than The Beatles. Mind you, this was only the case for at most a year. Still, outselling the Fab Four even for a limited time is a tremendous feather in their cap, one that anyone would be proud to boast about.
Still, this is a claim that stretches believability. A group ought to be pretty special if they can sell more than The Beatles and yet BS&T haven't even been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While they had three major hit singles in 1969, each one came up short of the number one spot on the Hot 100 in the United States. David Clayton Thomas was well known in his day but, quick, name three other members of the rock-soul-jazz combo. (I'll wait. I'll be here trying to name any without the aid of Wikipedia and it ought to take me a while) Yet, it seems to be true — and even it it isn't, it is a fact that they were a very big deal at this time.
Originally recorded by Brenda Holloway in 1967 on Tamla-Motown, "You've Made Me So Very Happy" had been a pleasant, if rather forgettable, soul number that for whatever reason the (largely nameless) members of BS&T thought enough of to record for their eponymous second album. The arrangement is more or less the same but with the American-Canadian nonet adding musical textures that make a previously average single pop. For his part, Thomas sings Holloway under the table: while there's nothing wrong with her sultry vocal, he goes from blue eyed soulster in the verses to gritty belter of the blues in the chorus, as if David Crosby and Joe Cocker pooled their talents. If not quite a classic, then a better-than-average chart topper in a year with more than a few dismal entries.
As I already said above, BS&T failed to reach number one down in the US but "You've Made Me So Very Happy" ended up being their first of three chart toppers on the RPM singles chart. In addition, their second album hit number one on the albums chart for a total of eight weeks (and that's with some stiff competition of the Hair soundtrack which had the top spot locked up over two months in the late spring and early summer) While it may be difficult to believe that they were bigger than The Beatles, their success in Canada gives you some idea just what a phenomenon they were — at least for a while.
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Finally, a note on BS&T as a Canadian act. Thomas' presence was obviously crucial but there's not escaping the fact that everyone else in the band was American. Had they been a bunch of hippie draft dodgers residing in Toronto that would be one thing but the singer came to them rather than the other way around. Also, BS&T had formed prior to Thomas joining. As one news report put it following the singer's death, "A Toronto music icon has passed away. David Clayton Thomas, of the American band Blood, Sweat and Tears, has died at the age of eighty-four". Yeah, that's about right: an American group who just so happened to have a Canadian in their ranks. So, with all due respect to the now late Thomas, his outfit is precisely as Canadian as The Mamas and the Papas and The Lovin' Spoonful. Not not Canadian but not Canadian enough. Nevertheless, a warm salute to the memory of David Clayton Thomas, the Canadian who made an American band special.
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