[1] Sharpe's stepfather, Nathaniel, was a saxophonist in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, and his father was big band vocalist Benjamin Hardy.
After relocating to New York City, he worked with Jimmy McGriff, Steve Ellington, Kenny Dorham, Joe Henderson, and Archie Shepp over the course of the 1960s.
After leaving music for a period, he returned in the 1980s, playing with the Jazz Disciples in 1983, with Freddie Redd in 1985 and Ari Roland in 1987, and with his own group late in the decade.
A photo of Clarence Hardy "C." Sharpe, while playing the saxophone, was collected by Pannonica de Koenigswarter, member of the Rothschild family.
[2] He died at Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island in New York City at the age of 58, having recently undergone surgery for throat cancer.