Sanford Clark, a rockabilly and country artist best known for “The Fool,” has died at 85 from complications of COVID-19.
Clark’s publicist said the singer died on July 4 at the Missouri hospital where he had been receiving cancer treatment.
Clark, an Oklahoma native, started performing in the early 1950s in Arizona. He found success in 1956 with his recording of Lee Hazlewood’s “The Fool,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
His follow-up, “The Cheat” was less successful but Clark went on tour with artists like Roy Orbison and Ray Price.
In his 2010 memoir, Keith Richards said Clark’s 1959 track “Son of a Gun” was one of the first songs he learned and performed before forming the Rolling Stones.
Clark left the music business in the ‘70s and earned a living with construction work and professional blackjack. He recorded an album in 1985 on his own label.
He is survived by his wife Marsha and several children.