Drifting back home

As a former lead singer with The Drifters and the Coasters he had filled major venues across the globe, appearing alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Diana Ross and James Brown.

But this comeback show was something that the American singer had battled towards and longed for over three increasingly desperate and lonely years.

Appearing before a live audience again had seemed a distant dream as he struggled in a nursing home in North Carolina to recover from illness.

The personal misery of the man, so closely linked with joyful classic pop produced by The Drifters, was compounded by the fact that his heart condition prevented his return to the place he counted as home in Oxfordshire.

You might well have imagined that this former Atlantic recording artist would reside in Detroit, Chicago or New York.

But after coming to the UK in 1990 for a show at the Royal Albert Hall in 1990 with blues guitar legend B.B. King he had chosen to settle in Oxford.

The track record of the 61-year-old artist was probably unknown to most guests at the Woodstock hotel earlier this month, although the undiminished quality of his voice and stage presence must have suggested he was hardly your average soul tribute act as he performed numbers by The Temptations and Bobby Womack songs.

Poignantly, he performed the Ben E. King classic Stand By Me, a song to bring a lump to the throat of Ann Edwards, the friend who had certainly stood by Clarence in his hour of need.

Ann had played a key role in helping the frail singer to fulfil his wish to return to England this summer.

Not only had she then looked after him at her home in Stonesfield, she had helped him recover to the point where a comeback was a serious possibility.

To enable Clarence to realise his ambition to sing again in public, she found a band in London. His appearance at the Marlborough Arms, at a friend's 50th birthday party, was meant to be only the beginning.

But there was to be no comeback. Clarence 'Tex' Walker died two days later in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, after suffering a cardiac arrest in Woodstock.

The singer, who with The Drifters had come to define R&B elegance while epitomising the vocal group sound of New York, had died without money, but where he wanted to be.

After a career that had taken so many twists and turns, his return to Oxfordshire had indeed been dramatic.

"We used to call it the Great Escape," said Ann. "He had been desperate to come back here. He had spent three years in a nursing home in a wheelchair. Before that he had been cared for in a hospital for veterans, because he had fought in Vietnam.

"In the end he decided to discharge himself and fly to England."

He arrived at Oxford bus station with no bags or cases and just the clothes he was wearing.

America held few happy thoughts for him.

Born and raised in Winston-Salem in North Carolina, as a child he was teased mercilessly about his stammer.

He would later recall: "Because I was always mocked in school for stammering, I found out that I could use that same voice and make a good living out of it. Singing is in a rhythm.

"It hits your mind before you have a chance to think about it and you just do it. So, now I laugh all the way to the bank at those people who laughed at me. And they're still buying the records, too."

His big break came after he returned from army service in Vietnam.

He had been due to sing with a local band opening for The Original Drifters, as the new manifestation of the great American vocal group was called.

The night before, the band had been hit by the death of one of their lead singers and Clarence was invited by the Drifter-in-chief, Bill Pinkney, to join.

Clarence packed his suitcase and for the next 12 years was appearing on the same bill as Dean Martin, the Isley Brothers, Aretha Franklin and Ike and Tina Turner. He made his first appearance as a Drifter on the Ed Sullivan Show and went on to perform sell-out concerts across America.

His gratitude to Pinkney, who died recently, always remained.

"He was my teacher, He was not only a singer but an entertainer."

And after leaving The Drifters to raise two children as a single parent, it was Pinkney who recommended him to the manager of The Coasters.

The Coasters, like so many of their naive 50s and 60s contemporaries, were easy prey for unscrupulous agents and Clarence was subsequently reduced to working in Texas as a bounty hunter.

But it was while singing with Big Joe Turner that he found his way to Oxford, after his path crossed with the celebrated Oxford music promoter Phil Davis, widely known as Silver Phil, who for years has been running the city's Famous Monday Blues shows.

Clarence was drawn to the blues nights then held in the Fuggle and Firkin in Gloucester Green, where he was to first met Ann.

Silver Phil would help Clarence to produce his The Blues In Black CD and arranged a number of festival appearances.

"I remember finding him a flat in Jericho," said Silver Phil. "He loved Oxford. It was close to London and he felt comfortable here. Clarence was a legend, who had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"The thing I loved about him was that he always had such big plans. I remember speaking to him on the telephone after he had been ill. He was then learning to use a Zimmer frame, but he was already talking about lining up tours and cruises."

Silver Phil even managed to find Clarence a musical part in the Hugh Grant film Notting Hill. But the singer eventually turned down the chance to appear in the massively successful comedy.

Ann, who operates a property company, became his constant companion, encouraging him to continue his career.

"I grew up listening to The Temptations, The Drifters and all those people on my little transistor radio," she said looking through her photograph album.

It is packed with memories of trips to meet up with many of Clarence's old show business pals as they passed through the UK.

It captures backstage meetings with the likes of Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson and Lionel Richie. Ann would also appear on the cover of her friend's album, released in 1999.

Using Oxford as a base, he played at blues and jazz venues across the UK, including the famous Jazz Cafe in London.

Not forgetting his humble roots, there were also performances for charity.

Three years ago, the former Drifter made it a Christmas to remember for some of Oxford's homeless, when he performed to an audience of homeless people at St Mary the Virgin Church Vaults on Boxing Day to support the StreetSmart Appeal. He even wrote a song, Don't Judge Me, especially for the concert, after reading an article about the homeless and the StreetSmart campaign in The Oxford Times.

After performing a set of The Drifters' hits, Mr Walker chatted to members of the audience of 60 people about his career and the city's homeless problems.

Georgie Rowse, of StreetSmart, recalled: "It was wonderful that a person of his standing in the music business was prepared not only to play, but to write a song for us. The lyrics were fantastic and the homeless people in the audience were clearly moved by it."

Clarence had never intended to return to his own home back to the United States.

He only went to America in 2004 following the death of his mother but while in North Carolina he suffered heart trouble, which left him immobile.

His friends in Oxfordshire became increasingly distressed to learn of his sense of isolation and growing despair.

They now tell stories of how he borrowed money to get a taxi to the airport and though he could hardly walk managed to board two flights to get back to England.

Ann was shocked by his condition.

"It seemed he had been sitting in a wheelchair for three years. The first thing we had to do was arrange medication for him. He came back here with nothing. He did not even have medication when he arrived.

"The priority was to strengthen him up. You know, all the time he would be saying, 'you have got to get me back on stage to sing'.

"He looked to have made a remarkable recovery. He was soon well enough to visit some of his old musical haunts. He loved living near Woodstock. I think he just liked the quaintness of the place and the friendliness of the people."

His recuperation had seemed complete when he took to the stage for two 45-minute long sets at the hotel in Woodstock on August 3.

"The band were young but talented and they showed real respect for him," said Ann.

"His voice was wonderful. He was so excited It was amazing to think that a short time before he had been hardly able to walk."

She recalls a particularly moving performance of his gospel song, One Day I'll Sing For My Father, containing the line "When this world is over, I know where I want to be."

His death has now left friends seeking to raise money to cover the costs of the star's funeral expenses.

Silver Phil is already busy organising a memorial concert, with soul, gospel and of course blues. How else could you hope to celebrate the life of the Drifter who came home?

• A funeral service for Clarence 'Tex' Walker will take place at the Oxford Crematorium on Thursday, August 30, at 3.15pm.