Clarence Carter, Singer of Lust-Filled Soul Hits, Dies at 90

In songs like “Slip Away” and “Back Door Santa,” he performed with the fervor of a backwoods preacher and the bawdy humor of a juke joint.


Clarence Carter in 1975. Blind from youth, he had a deep, declamatory baritone and lecherous, full-throated laugh. Gilles Petard/Redferns, via Getty Images

By Bill Friskics-Warren
May 14, 2026

Clarence Carter, the Southern soul singer and guitarist who sang unabashedly of adultery and lust on hits of the late 1960s like “Slip Away” and “Back Door Santa,” died on Wednesday in Atlanta. He was 90.

His death was confirmed by Rodney Hall, the president of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., where many of Mr. Carter’s hits were recorded. Bil Carpenter, a friend of Mr. Carter’s family, said the death, at a hospice facility, was from prostate cancer.

Blind from youth and distinguished by his deep, declamatory baritone and lecherous, full-throated laugh, Mr. Carter combined the sermonic fervor of a backwoods preacher and the bawdy humor of a juke joint.

His sensibilities are clear on the extended recitation that takes up much of “Making Love (At the Dark End of the Street),” his thorough reimagining of the soul singer James Carr’s 1967 hit “The Dark End of the Street,” written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn.


Mr. Carter's 1969 album "Testifyin'" included "Making Love (At the End of the Street)", a reimagining of a recent soul hit. Atlantic

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