Funk and R&B legend Carl Carlton has died.
His son posted to Facebook saying that he had a “Long hard fight in life.”
There are conflicting ages for Carlton with Entertainment Weekly saying he was 72, but his son, Carlton Hudges II said in the Facebook post that his father was 73.
Soultracks.com said he had complications from a stroke six years ago, Entertainment Weekly reported. But his cause of death was not released, according to Rolling Stone.
Carlton was born in Detroit and was named Carlton Hudgens, but started performing under the name “Little Carl” Carlton. He changed his stage name to Carl Carlton, Rolling Stone reported.
He moved to Houston when he was signed with Back Beat Records.
His “I Can Feel It” made it to the Billboard Soul Singles chart in 1971 but it was his cover of “Everlasting Love” that climbed the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 6 in 1974. It was on the chart for 15 weeks.
His second big hit was 1981’s “She’s a Bad Mama Jama,” which made it all the way to No. 2 on the soul chart and No. 22 on the Hot 100 chart.
The song still is popular, making it all the way to No. 7 on Billboard’s R&B Digital Song sales chart this year and being sampled by Foxy Brown and others.
It also appeared on the “Miss Congeniality 2″ soundtrack and was on an episode of “Friends,” according to Rolling Stone.
His final release was “God Is Good,” a gospel album released in 2010.
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