Less than a week after he entered hospice care in Florida, suffering from terminal liver cancer and multiple organ failure, Clarence “Blowfly” Reid has died at the age of 76. The longtime singer will release his final album, 77 Rusty Trombones, next month; Reid would have turned 77 on Valentine’s Day.
The news was relayed Sunday afternoon on Reid’s Facebook page.
“Clarence Reid, the genius known both by his given name and as Blowfly, the Master of Class, passed peacefully today, January 17th, in his hospice room,” writes Reid’s drummer and friend, Tom Bowker. “His sister Virginia and I thank you for all the love you have shown this week. We also thank you for supporting Clarence’s 50 + year music career — especially these last few years. We love you and will keep you informed on services and tribute performances in Clarence’s honor.” The note was signed “Nothing But Love.”
Reid, the self-described King Of The Freaks, released raunchy, x-rated funk and r&b parodies for the past several decades. Last week, Bowker described 77 Rusty Trombones as “easily his best album since the early ’80s, and a fitting epitaph for one of the great performers of all time.”
Between 1963 and 1976, Reid released three albums under his own name. But as Blowfly, Reid really showed off his foul-mouthed talents, releasing 26 adult-themed albums and collections from 1971 to 2012, including Porno Freak (1978), Analthology: The Best of Blowfly (1996), and Fahrenheit 69 (2005). In 1999, he gave the world Blowfly Does XXX-Mas, a compilation of dirty holiday songs, and in 2006, did a bunch of covers of classic punk songs for Blowfly’s Punk Rock Party, changing the lyrics to feature obscene language and offensive content. In 2001, he even covered New Order’s “Blue Monday”.
“It has been an honor to reintroduce Blowfly (and Clarence) to the world via recordings, movies and the stage over the last dozen years,” Bowker added. “The last three have been particularly enjoyable, as we had a wonderful band featuring Billy Morales on guitar and Shaun Dickerson on bass who in addition to being fantastic musicians, completely understood what we were doing, and why we were doing it. Thank you for supporting our efforts.”
On Twitter, Snoop, Ice-T, Flea, Flying Lotus and others offered their respects. Check out some of Blowfly’s finest works after a few memorial tweets.