Chris Clark - "From Head To Toe"

Chris Clark was a blonde Los Angeles born singer that managed to get signed to Motown. At 17 she auditioned with the Etta James song "All I could do was cry" and her take was enough for Motown producer Hal Davis to send the acetate to Berry Gordy, which led to a trip to Detroit to sing it live to the Motown boss. At this particular audition Berry Gordy asked to accompany her on keyboards, but was met with her reply of "It is a tricky arrangement and you would find it too difficult." That was met with strange looks from Gordy. He got her to sing the song to all the Motown hierarchy including Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Smokey Robinson and each time she declined his help on keyboards. She obviously wasn't aware, at the time, that Berry Gordy had actually written the song. However, he must've taken it well because he signed her up and she was suddenly in a studio with the legendary Holland's and Lamont. In 1966 she took part in the Motown Christmas shows that were held at The Fox Theatre in Detroit. The audience reaction every time they saw her pretty white face, in the build-up film reel, was unpleasant jeering. Stevie Wonder and others had even told her not to go on stage. In the end, Berry Gordy got her to start her routine from behind the stage and by the time she appeared on stage the audience had warmed to her. Her debut album 'Soul Sounds' came out a year later in 1967 but unfortunately had little impact. It was an overlooked gem going by the songs I have heard from it, all those years later. The follow-up album 'CC Rides Again' from 1969 was also neglected. She ended up working in management at Motown and was vice-president of Motown Productions at the time she left and moved to Arizona in 1989.