American musician who has played lead guitar with Gordon Lightfoot since the early ’70s.
Clements’ parents broke up when he was between two and three. His mother sent him to St. Vincent de Paul, an orphanage in Mt. Clement, Michigan, for about three years. There he received an old Washburn acoustic, missing a string, that became his “teddy bear.” Clements started playing guitar at about age five. He was reunited with his mother when her job situation improved, and she later bought him his first real guitar, a Stella.
In 1959, the family moved to Pasadena, California where Clements often skipped school to play guitar and surf. After high school, Clements spent two years in the Navy, where he injured his right hand. He now picks with just a flat pick and his ring finger. He was part of Golden Sunflower in the 1960s. Clements wrote and arranged for the group, and he was the only band member who actually played on the group’s album.
He eventually got into film-score work, where he met Lightfoot. Lightfoot flew Clements up to Toronto for an audition, and the two have been collaborators ever since. After nearly three decades, Clements still enjoys their work together, often coming up with riffs that Lightfoot uses in his songs.
When he’s not on the road, Clements works in his eight-track analog studio at home, helping new songwriters record their work.
He died ten days following a stroke on 20 February 2011.