Doctor Clayton

He had four children and worked in a factory in St. Louis, where he started his career as a singer (he could also play the piano and the ukulele but never did so on record).

[2] Clayton's entire family died in a house fire in 1937; following this he became an alcoholic and began wearing outsized hats and glasses.

[2] To pursue his music career, Clayton moved to Chicago with Robert Lockwood, and he received attention from Decca Records, thanks to a helpful recommendation from another musician, Charley Jordan.

Ultimately Clayton returned to Bluebird, recording with Lockwood, the bassist Robert (Ransom) Knowling, the pianist Blind John Davis, and Lester Melrose, in 1941–42.

[4] He was a regional sales success and played regularly in Chicago nightclubs with Lockwood and Sunnyland Slim.