Clay, Sonny (actually,William Rogers Campbell)
Clay, Sonny (actually,William Rogers Campbell)
Clay, Sonny (actually,William Rogers Campbell), early jazz drummer, multi-instrumentalist; b. Phoenix, Ariz., May 15, 1899; d. Los Angeles, April 1973. He did first gigs in Phoenix c. 1911, began doubling on sax., trpt., and trmb. After a season at Riverside Park, Ariz., moved to West Coast c. 1916. He played drums with Jelly Roll Morton and xylophone with Johnny Spikes, and also worked with George Morrison’s Band. He played with Kid Ory during the early 1920s, then played piano, sax, and drum in his own Eccentric Harmony Six (late 1922). Clay led his own bands in Los Angeles area from then until the early 1940s, played for many theater shows, and did extensive touring including trip a to Australia (from January 1928). He retired from full-time music in the 1940s, doing occasional gigs and working as a piano tuner.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter