Clarence Carter, Southern Soul Pioneer Who Sang ‘Strokin’,’ Dies at 90

Southern soul legend Clarence Carter performs on stage in Baltimore in 1995. Carter, the blind singer and guitarist known for 1960s R&B hits and the enduring party anthem "Strokin'," died Wednesday, May 13, 2026, near Atlanta at the age of 90. (Photo by John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com)

Clarence Carter, the blind Southern soul pioneer who scored deep-feeling R&B hits in the 1960s before securing a permanent, multi-generational legacy with the bawdy cookout anthem "Strokin'," has died. He was 90.

Carter died Wednesday. Bill Carpenter, a spokesman for his former wife and fellow soul singer Candi Staton, confirmed the passing on Thursday. According to reports, Carter had recently been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer and died from complications including sepsis and pneumonia. Rodney Hall, president of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Carter recorded many of his biggest hits, also confirmed the news to Rolling Stone.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Carter lost his sight to glaucoma as an infant. He attended the Alabama School for the Blind and later earned a music degree from Alabama State College, using his formal education to develop a signature, blues-soaked baritone and a hard-driving rhythm guitar style.

Signing with FAME Records, Carter became a formidable force on the R&B charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He delivered a string of emotionally complex, brass-heavy hits, most notably the 1968 cheating ballad "Slip Away" and the 1970 Grammy-nominated tearjerker "Patches," a spoken-word hybrid about rural poverty that crossed over to the top of the pop charts.

But for the hip-hop and 90s/00s throwback generation, Carter’s cultural footprint extends far beyond traditional soul radio.

His raw, unfiltered 1968 holiday track "Back Door Santa" famously provided the foundational, blaring horn sample for Run-D.M.C.’s 1987 classic "Christmas in Hollis".

More prominently, Carter achieved a rare feat of cultural permanence in 1986 with the release of "Strokin'." Driven by a relentless synthesizer and Carter's unapologetic, spoken-word sexual humor, the track was deemed too explicit for mainstream radio play. Instead, it bypassed the industry entirely, thriving in nightclub jukeboxes and on mixtape cassettes to become an undisputed standard at cookouts, family reunions, and block parties for the next four decades.

Carter's ability to seamlessly pivot from heart-wrenching soul to working-class, juke-joint humor allowed him to survive changing musical eras that left many of his peers behind. He continued to tour and release music deep into his later years, keeping the Southern soul circuit alive while leaning heavily into his status as a cult-classic icon.

From Gladys Knight to Beyoncé: Library of Congress Names 2026 Audio Treasures

Sometime in the distant future, historians digging through the United States' most sacred cultural archives will find the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Beyoncé telling them to put a ring on it.

On Thursday, the Library of Congress announced the 2026 class of the National Recording Registry, naming 25 audio treasures deemed so culturally, historically, or aesthetically important that they must be preserved for all of time. While the selections span 70 years of American history, this year’s list reads like a masterclass in the foundational sounds of hip-hop, R&B, and 90s alternative culture.

Beyoncé’s 2008 blockbuster "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" was inducted into the permanent archives alongside Taylor Swift’s transformative 2014 pop pivot, "1989." The Library noted that Beyoncé didn't just release a song; she generated a cultural phenomenon that spawned millions of plays, a new catchphrase, and an epochal dance craze simultaneously.

But for fans of golden-era hip-hop and R&B, the 2026 registry goes much deeper than modern pop.

The U.S. government officially cemented the foundation of hip-hop production by inducting The Winstons' 1969 single "Amen, Brother." The B-side track features a six-second drum loop performed by Gregory Coleman — now universally known as the "Amen Break." That explosive rhythm became the most sampled musical riff in history, serving as the rhythmic backbone for acts ranging from N.W.A. to Salt-N-Pepa.

The Throwback Archives

The Library of Congress preserves audio deemed culturally or historically vital. Key 2026 throwback additions include:

• The Hip-Hop Blueprint: "Amen, Brother" – The Winstons (1969)
• The R&B Standard: "Midnight Train to Georgia" – Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973)
• The Crossover: "I Feel For You" – Chaka Khan (1984)
• The House Pioneer: "Your Love" – Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles (1986/1987)
• The Alt-Rock Anthem: "Weezer (The Blue Album)" – Weezer (1994)
• The Pop Phenomenon: "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" – Beyoncé (2008)

The registry also honored the moment R&B, pop, and hip-hop vocabulary fully converged: Chaka Khan's 1984 smash "I Feel for You."

Originally written by Prince, Khan’s reimagined cover brought rap to the global mainstream with a legendary guest verse from Grandmaster Melle Mel and harmonica work from Stevie Wonder.

"'I Feel for You’ was a moment where everything converged: Prince’s genius, Stevie’s harmonica, Grandmaster Melle Mel’s rap, and whatever God put in me that day,” Khan said regarding the induction. “For the Library of Congress to say this recording belongs in the permanent collection of American sound heritage, that means it wasn’t just a hit, it was history. And I am so very grateful to have been part of it.”

The history of club culture was also preserved this year with the induction of "Your Love," the inescapable 1986 dance track by Chicago's Jamie Principle, which was later famously reworked by Frankie Knuckles. The Library recognized the track as a groundbreaking artifact in the history of house music and electronica.

Other massive legacy inductions include Gladys Knight and the Pips’ 1973 storytelling masterpiece "Midnight Train to Georgia," The Go-Go’s trailblazing 1981 debut "Beauty and the Beat," and Weezer’s 1994 self-titled grunge-era breakthrough, "Weezer (The Blue Album)."

In a nod to the 90s digital revolution, the Library even preserved the heavy metal-fueled soundtrack to the 1993 MS-DOS video game "Doom."

“Music and recorded sound are essential, wonderful parts of our daily lives and our national heritage," Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen said Thursday. "The National Recording Registry works to preserve our national playlist for generations to come.”

The 2026 selections bring the registry to exactly 700 titles, a highly exclusive fraction of the Library’s massive collection of nearly 4 million audio items.

The Complete 2026 National Recording Registry

(Chronological Order)

• "Cocktails for Two" – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1944)
• "Mambo No. 5" – Pérez Prado and His Orchestra (1950)
• "Teardrops from My Eyes" – Ruth Brown (1950)
• "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" – Kaye Ballard (1954)
• "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" – Paul Anka (1959)
• "The Blues and the Abstract Truth" – Oliver Nelson (1961)
• "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" – Ray Charles (1962)
• "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" – The Byrds (1965)
• "Amen, Brother" – The Winstons (1969)
• "Feliz Navidad" – José Feliciano (1970)
• "The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier" (March 8, 1971)
• "Midnight Train to Georgia" – Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973)
• "Chicago" Original Cast Album (1975)
• "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" – The Charlie Daniels Band (1979)
• "Beauty and the Beat" – The Go-Go’s (1981)
• "Texas Flood" – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (1983)
• "I Feel For You" – Chaka Khan (1984)
• "Your Love" – Jamie Principle (1986) / Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles (1987)
• "Rumor Has It" – Reba McEntire (1990)
• "The Wheel" – Rosanne Cash (1993)
• "Doom" Soundtrack – Bobby Prince, composer (1993)
• "Go Rest High On That Mountain" – Vince Gill (1994)
• "Weezer (The Blue Album)" – Weezer (1994)
• "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" – Beyoncé (2008)
• "1989" – Taylor Swift (2014)

Mary J. Blige Turns the Las Vegas Strip Into a Sanctuary for Survival Songs

Mary J. Blige appears in a promotional poster for "Mary J. Blige: My Life, My Story The Las Vegas Residency" at Dolby Live at Park MGM. Following a sold-out opening run in May, the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" added 10 additional performances scheduled for August, September, and October to meet overwhelming fan demand. (Promotional image via Live Nation)

Mary J. Blige has turned survival into a stage language, and now the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul is extending that testimony on the Las Vegas Strip.

After opening her first Las Vegas residency with a sold-out weekend at Dolby Live at Park MGM, Blige has added 10 new performances to "Mary J. Blige: My Life, My Story The Las Vegas Residency." The new dates will run Aug. 28-29, Sept. 2, Sept. 5-6, Oct. 23-24, Oct. 28 and Oct. 30-31, extending a production built around one of the most emotionally durable catalogs in modern R&B.

The residency, which opened May 1, is the first Vegas residency of Blige’s career. The show traces the arc of an artist who helped redraw the border between hip-hop and soul, moving through the pain, defiance and hard-earned joy that made records such as "Real Love," "My Life," "I’m Goin’ Down," "Family Affair" and "Be Without You" more than radio hits for generations of listeners.

The opening weekend also carried the feel of a New York family reunion, with appearances from The LOX, Method Man, Jadakiss and 50 Cent, according to MGM Resorts. But the larger story is Blige herself, standing in a Vegas spotlight after more than three decades of turning heartbreak, recovery and self-possession into communal release.

In an interview with Robin Roberts for "Good Morning America" that also featured footage on "Nightline," Blige described the residency as a milestone earned through endurance.

"The next chapter is just enjoying the fruits of my labor," Blige said. "This residency is the fruits. This is what I’ve worked for, this is what I’ve earned. And I’m here. I’m where I’m supposed to be. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. And I didn’t give up."

That sense of arrival has been central to the rollout. Blige framed the show not as nostalgia, but as proof of survival for a fanbase that has mirrored her own life's journey.

"My fans have seen me go through so much — good, bad, the whole thing," Blige said. "But what they love most — the true fans — is that I’m not bitter, I’m better."

Tickets for the newly added performances are available through Ticketmaster. A Citi/AAdvantage presale began May 7 through Citi Entertainment, with the general on-sale having opened May 11. All shows are scheduled for 8 p.m. at Dolby Live at Park MGM.