Carl Carlton, the American R&B, soul and funk singer\u2011songwriter, has died at the age of 72. His passing was confirmed by his son, Carlton Hudgens II, in a social media post on Sunday, December 14, 2025, in which he wrote: \u201cRIP Dad, Legend Carl Carlton, singer of \u2018She\u2019s a Bad Mama Jama.\u2019 Long hard fight in life and you will be missed.\u201d His cause of death has not been officially disclosed.See More…<\/p>\n
Born Carlton Hudgens in Detroit on May 21, 1952, he began his music career in the mid\u20111960s under the name \u201cLittle Carl\u201d Carlton, recording local hits before achieving national success. Carlton\u2019s breakthrough came with his 1974 disco\u2011influenced cover of \u201cEverlasting Love,\u201d which reached No.\u202f6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 15 weeks on the chart. <\/p>\n
Carlton is best known for his iconic 1981 hit \u201cShe\u2019s a Bad Mama Jama (She\u2019s Built, She\u2019s Stacked).\u201d The song became a defining funk and R&B anthem of the early 1980s, earning a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, and helping his self\u2011titled album reach gold status. <\/p>\n
Over his decades\u2011long career, Carlton remained a respected figure in soul and funk music. He made numerous television appearances, including American Bandstand and Soul Train, and continued recording and performing through the 1980s and beyond, even releasing a gospel album titled God Is Good in 2010.<\/p>\n
In recent years Carlson faced health challenges, including a stroke in 2019 that impacted his later life, according to multiple reports. Despite these struggles, his music continued to be beloved by fans and frequently featured in films, TV shows, and sampled by new generations of artists. <\/p>\n
Tributes from fans, fellow musicians, and the music community have poured in following the announcement of his death, praising his talent, influence, and the lasting legacy of his classic songs. Carlton\u2019s contributions helped define key moments in soul and R&B history, and his music will continue to be celebrated worldwide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carl Carlton, the American R&B, soul and funk singer\u2011songwriter, has died at the age of 72. His passing was confirmed by his son, Carlton Hudgens II, in a social media post on Sunday, December 14, 2025, in which he wrote: \u201cRIP Dad, Legend Carl Carlton, singer of \u2018She\u2019s a Bad Mama Jama.\u2019 Long hard fight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions\/1190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailypulse1.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}