O-o-h Child (Clarence Burke Jr. R.I.P. )

[Guest FourAces]

Clarence Burke Jr., lead singer of the group the Five Stairsteps that sang the 1970 hit "O-o-h Child," has died. He was 64.

Burke died on Sunday -- a day after his birthday -- in Marietta, Ga., where he lived, according to his friend and manager Joe Marno.

The cause of his death was not disclosed.

Formed in Chicago in 1965, the Five Stairsteps included Burke, three of his brothers and a sister. They owed their name to their mother, who said that they looked like stairsteps when they stood beside each other in order of age, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Burke, the eldest brother, was the group's producer and choreographer, played guitar and wrote many of the songs. He wrote the group's first single, "You Waited Too Long." He was not yet 17 when it rose to No. 6 on Billboard's R&B charts in 1966.

Other hits included "World of Fantasy," "Don't Change Your Love" and "From Us to You."

However, the group's biggest hit was 1970's "O-o-h Child," written by Stan Vincent. Its signature refrain croons "o-o-h child" and promises that "things are gonna get easier."

The song has been covered many times and has repeatedly been used in movies and TV shows.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No. 402 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

The group disbanded in the late 1970s but the brothers briefly reformed as the Invisible Man's Band and had a 1980 success with the dance single "All Night Thing."

In recent years, Burke performed solo concerts and continued to record with family and friends, according to a family memorial.

[wayout]

love that song....sorry to hear of his passing. RIP

[Guest FourAces]

love that song....sorry to hear of his passing. RIP

Me too. When I was very young I was in radio and worked in Cleveland. It was all free form back then more or less so I used to play this song all the time.

Sadly my brief radio career came to a quick end when I played Hey Jude and All Things Must Pass at the same time ... to this day I swear they flow in and out well together And I no longer do mind altering things

[wayout]

lol, great story. I wouldn't be surprised if I listened to you on the radio as I was born and raised in Cleveland. Remember WIXY 1260? Small world

[Guest FourAces]

I sure do ... the Top 40 station. They had a upbeat jingle lol. Cleveland was a great music town. I worked on a station called WNCR was in the same building as WHK. I did weekend overnights. Many from NCR ended up at WMMS after a format change ... David Spiro started on radio. When the Beatles played Cleveland, they hung out at Spiro's house in Beachwood. His Dad was one of the promoters. Oh so many memories of my short time there.

[wayout]

Oh wow, I do remember WNCR 99.5. It was a great station and very popular in the early 70s here. If I recall correctly it was a shooting star and was only around for a few years. Here's an air check vid on Youtube I found, in case you hadn't seen (heard) it before:

[Guest FourAces]

wow brings back some memories but I do not recognize the voice. I don't wanna say exactly when I worked there but 1972 was the general time frame. Some of the other jocks were Billy Bass and Doyle. I had heard them before meeting them and in all honesty ws a little shocked back then to find out they were black. Not too many black jocks doing rock in those days. Also Jeff and Shuana who did mid-days and had a popular segment Peoples Want Ads. Like if you needed a ride to San Francisco you would call up and they would announce Wayout is a cool cat needs a ride to SF has own food and can pay 1/3 gas cost Problem with Jeff and Shuana they hated each other ... and would sit in the studio for 4 hours throwing lit matches at each other She ended up in Los Angeles on Klos and Kmet dont know about him maybe he became a fireman