Spotlight on Chris Clark

From the Los Angeles Times:

"Berry was always able to see talent in people that they didn't know they had," Clark continues. "And because he believed in you, you believed you could do it. He gave me my first camera -- and I wound up shooting pictures of everything. He put me in charge of Motown's video department, and I started taping not just our acts but every black act that was on TV to see how they performed" and whether they were interviewed on camera.

In 2005, inspired by the U.K. division of Universal having issued a two-CD anthology of her vintage Motown recordings (including 25 previously unreleased songs), Clark returned to performing -- as the opening act on a Temptations-Four Tops tour of England.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever done; it was like skiing down Mount Everest," says Clark. "I didn't do a lot of live shows in the '60s. Without a hit record, what was the point? Although I did go to England in '66, but what I remember most about that was going with Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers' guitarist, Tommy Chong [of future Cheech & Chong fame], to this small London club and seeing this young black guitarist climb on stage who was just . . . phenomenal. He later came over and in- troduced himself as Jimi Hendrix.

"But the crowd reaction was so great" -- many of Clark's recordings have been longtime favorites on England's Northern Soul scene -- "that I decided I just had to go back there again." Clark laughs. She's scheduled to play London in November.

Photo credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Not at all familiar with her tunes; I should do something about that. Any well-versed MOGgers want to chime in?