Clarence Johnson

Blues singer identified; family to be at funeral

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat

Blues guitarist Clarence Johnson froze to death and remained unclaimed in a hospital morgue for more than two weeks, but will now get a funeral surrounded by his family.

Fannie Harper of East St. Louis, Johnson's 80-year-old sister, went to Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital on Tuesday morning to identify and claim Johnson's body.

"My nephew in California had someone from here call him and tell him it was in the newspaper," Harper said. "He called me and I went down there."

Johnson and his Tom Cats recorded a 45-rpm record with the songs "That's Not Right" backed with "Baby Come Back To Me" that is worth about $1,000 because it is so rare, blues historian Joel Slotnikoff said.

Johnson also sang and played guitar on an Adelphi record called "Things Have Changed" – an anthology of St. Louis blues music recorded in the early 1970s. Other artists included guitarist Henry Townsend, harmonica player Andrew Cauthen and pianist Henry Brown. Johnson played and sang the song "Baby Let Me Come Back Home."

"He was a light player in the East St. Louis area," Slotnikoff said. "He would have played the clubs and made a few recordings."

Harper said Johnson enlisted in the Army during World War II. When he got out, he played music and worked as a handyman to make ends meet.

Johnson, who was a student of blues guitar great Lonnie Johnson, played the Mississippi Blues Festival in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but his sight began failing due to diabetes, according to St. Louis blues patriarch Henry Townsend.

In 2000, Johnson lost his home at 1907 Market St. in East St. Louis to a fire. The cause was an unattended wood stove used to heat the home.

After the fire, Johnson moved to Belleville, said niece Melia Hunter of Milwaukee, but the family didn't have his new address.

"We were a very close-knit family. We called numbers, and they would be disconnected." said Hunter, who plans to return to East St. Louis for her uncle's funeral. "We didn't know where he was or how to find him."

On Feb. 18, Johnson, 86, was found wrapped in clothes, trying to stay warm in sub-freezing temperature in an unheated, ramshackle duplex at 480 N. 26th St. in East St. Louis. Johnson died 20 minutes after reaching the hospital. His body temperature was 87 degrees.

Funeral arrangements for Johnson are pending at Officer Funeral Home in East St. Louis.