He is best remembered for his theme song, "Sugar Blues", written by Clarence Williams and Lucy Fletcher, and also as a co-founder of Down Beat magazine in 1935.

McCoy was a member of one of the families of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, and was based at various times in Los Angeles, New York City, and at Chicago's Drake Hotel, where he first performed "Sugar Blues" in 1930.

[1] McCoy was informed in 1920 by a musical associate about an opening for a small band at a popular resort location in Knoxville, Tennessee, which was originally planned to be a two-week gig.

When the band arrived in Knoxville, owner George Whittle agreed to audition Clyde's "Chicago Orchestra" and approved of their performance, as well the patrons.

Clyde's solo rendition of the song would draw enthusiastic approval from the patrons at the Drake Hotel, and provided national broadcast exposure for the band on the radio.

[1] The Clyde McCoy Orchestra had a long and successful run at the Drake Hotel before beginning a year-long engagement at Terrace Gardens in Chicago.

Before McCoy entered military service in World War II, he recorded frequently for Associated Transcriptions, both in Chicago and New York.

[1] On January 20, 1945, McCoy married one of the Bennett sisters, Maxine Means, who he had been courting since the girls joined his band back in 1936.

[1] He had Alzheimer's disease, and Maxine adamantly rejected medical advice to admit her beloved Clyde to an extended care facility.

[2] The Wah-wah pedal was invented by a young engineer named Brad Plunkett,[3] who worked for the Thomas Organ Company, Vox/JMI's U.S. counterpart.

Vox cleverly packaged the circuit into an enclosure with a rocker pedal attached to the pot (which controlled the frequency of the resonant peak) and named the new device after Clyde McCoy.