St. Clair Lee
Encyclopedia
St. Clair Lee was an American R&B vocalist with the band The Hues Corporation, which had a top ten record
on the R&B and pop music
charts called "Rock The Boat
". The single went to number one in 1974 and sold over two million copies.
. When he was born, someone at the hospital put both family names into his full name title and mistakenly wrote "St. Clair" instead of Sinclair – resulting in a long name for his birth record. When he was a young man, he found out that "Sinclair" means "Big Bear
" and that the India
n side of his family were Blackfoot
that had migrated
down from Canada
to Oklahoma
. It was this discovery that led him to decide to wear his trademark
headband
. He attended Santa Monica College
.
and Las Vegas
. In Vegas, Lee worked at Circus Circus. During this time, he worked on the same stages with Frank Sinatra
, Milton Berle
, Nancy Sinatra
and Glen Campbell
. When the band secured a record deal, Lee started to record and tour with the band regularly. Before their first big hit, they also contributed to the soundtrack
of the blacksploitation film Blackula.
The success of The Hues Corporation is greatly tied to the musicianship Lee worked with on their biggest selling album Freedom For The Stallion
. In 1973, he was in the studio with some of RCA
's best talent, including: Jim Gordon
, Hal Blaine
, and Dennis Budimir, as well as Larry Carlton
, Joe Sample
, and Wilton Felder
of The Crusaders
– and many others.
Touring with the band took Lee to Europe, South America, The Far East and Australia. He performed for Queen Elizabeth at the same event with Dionne Warwick
. He performed with The Jackson 5
in Radio City Music Hall
. Lee also shared bills with The Commodores, The Spinners, Dolly Parton
and with Dinah Shore
many times on her TV program. Lee could perform soul, jazz, and R&B - as the group was very versatile.
After a second moderate success ("Rockin' Soul") with the band and a few more records, The Hues Corporation disbanded in 1978 and then reformed in later years. Lee continued to tour and perform with the band up until his death.
s and compilation album
s since the early 1990s.
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on the R&B and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
charts called "Rock The Boat
Rock the Boat (Hues Corporation song)
"Rock the Boat" is a disco song by the group Hues Corporation in 1974. "Rock the Boat" was written by Waldo Holmes, who also wrote the Blacula songs....
". The single went to number one in 1974 and sold over two million copies.
Early life
Lee was born Bernard St. Clair Lee Calhoun Henderson in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. When he was born, someone at the hospital put both family names into his full name title and mistakenly wrote "St. Clair" instead of Sinclair – resulting in a long name for his birth record. When he was a young man, he found out that "Sinclair" means "Big Bear
Big Bear
Big Bear or Mistahi-maskwa was a Cree leader notable for his involvement in the North-West Rebellion and his subsequent imprisonment.-Early life and leadership:...
" and that the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n side of his family were Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
that had migrated
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
down from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. It was this discovery that led him to decide to wear his trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
headband
Headband
A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal...
. He attended Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College is a two-year, public, junior college located in Santa Monica, California.Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study...
.
Career
The Hues Corporation was formed in 1969, in Santa Monica and began playing frequently in Palm SpringsPalm Springs
Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
and Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
. In Vegas, Lee worked at Circus Circus. During this time, he worked on the same stages with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
, Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
and Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
. When the band secured a record deal, Lee started to record and tour with the band regularly. Before their first big hit, they also contributed to the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of the blacksploitation film Blackula.
The success of The Hues Corporation is greatly tied to the musicianship Lee worked with on their biggest selling album Freedom For The Stallion
Freedom For The Stallion
Freedom For The Stallion is the debut album by Hues Corporation. Released in 1973, it includes the #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Rock The Boat." The title track, "Freedom for the Stallion" was also a minor hit on the Billboard charts.-Track listing:...
. In 1973, he was in the studio with some of RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
's best talent, including: Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon (musician)
James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
, Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
, and Dennis Budimir, as well as Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton
Larry Carlton is an American jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, pop, and rock guitarist and singer. He has divided his recording time between solo recordings and session appearances with various well-known bands...
, Joe Sample
Joe Sample
Joseph Leslie "Joe" Sample is an American pianist, keyboard player and composer.He is one of the founding members of the Jazz Crusaders, the band which became simply The Crusaders in 1971, and remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991 .- Biography :Sample began playing the piano...
, and Wilton Felder
Wilton Felder
Wilton Lewis Felder is both a saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of The Crusaders, initially called the Jazz Crusaders. Felder, Wayne Henderson, Joe Sample, and Stix Hooper founded the group while in high school in Houston...
of The Crusaders
The Crusaders
The Crusaders are an American music group popular in the early 1970s known for their amalgamated jazz, pop and soul sound. Since 1961, more than forty albums have been credited to the group , 19 of which were recorded under the name "The Jazz Crusaders" .-History:In 1960, following the demise of a...
– and many others.
Touring with the band took Lee to Europe, South America, The Far East and Australia. He performed for Queen Elizabeth at the same event with Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
. He performed with The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5 , later known as The Jacksons, were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana...
in Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
. Lee also shared bills with The Commodores, The Spinners, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and with Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
many times on her TV program. Lee could perform soul, jazz, and R&B - as the group was very versatile.
After a second moderate success ("Rockin' Soul") with the band and a few more records, The Hues Corporation disbanded in 1978 and then reformed in later years. Lee continued to tour and perform with the band up until his death.
Legacy
The song Rock the Boat, by The Hues Corporation, has been included on hundreds of soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s and compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s since the early 1990s.
With The Hues Corporation
- 1978: Your Place or Mine (Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
) - 1977: I Caught Your Act (Warner Bros.)
- 1975: Rockin' Soul (RCA Victor)
- 1975: Love Corporation (RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
) - 1973: Freedom for the Stallion (RCA)
- Ultra Dance (RCA)