Who was Roderick Pooh Clark? Tributes pour in as Hi-Five member dies aged 49

R&B Band Hi-Five's member Roderick "Pooh" Clark passed away at the age of 49, confirmed the band via a post on Instagram, posted on April 18.

Clark’s cause of death is unknown as of now. Fellow band member Marcus Sanders shared the news of Clark’s death by sharing a photo and video of Roderick on Facebook.

The band’s musical director Martinez Little paid tribute to Clark on Facebook and posted a photo of the late singer. He recalled their time touring together with Hi-Five.

More details about Roderick and the Hi-Five

Roderick was mostly known as a member of the band Hi-Five. Not much is known about his family, career, and educational background.

Hi-Five was formed in 1989 and consisted of the founding and original members that include Tony Thompson, Roderick "Pooh" Clark, Marcus Sanders, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. They mostly made R&B songs.

The group was first signed to Jive Records in 1989 and released their debut album in 1990. The album was successful and included singles like I Just Can’t Handle, I Can’t Wait Another Minute and I Like the Way. I Like the Way made it to the top position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Their second LP, Keep It Goin’ On was released in 1992 and was not as successful as their first album. Following the second album’s release, the group was met with an accident, leaving Clark paralyzed from the chest down.

Hi-Five made a comeback with their third album, Faithful, in 1993, which featured songs like Unconditional Love and Never Should’ve Let You Go. Both singles received a positive response from the public.

Treston Irby, Shannon Gill, and Marcus Sanders reformed the group with two new members, Andre Ramseur and Faruq Evans in 2012. They released a single, Favorite Girl on the BMW label. Ramseur left the group and was replaced by Billy Covington.

The group was also featured on the TVOne music documentary series, Unsung, in August 2014. It chronicled the quintet’s upbringing in Waco, their rise to popularity, tragedies among group members, and their comeback.

Netizens pay tribute on Twitter

As soon as the news of Roderick’s death went viral on the internet, fans paid tribute to him on Twitter:

There are no known survivors of Roderick so far and further details about his personal life are yet to be disclosed.

About the author

Anupal is a pop culture writer at Sportskeeda with a degree in Political Science. He developed a keen interest in the lives of celebrities, films, TV shows, and box office collections since an early age. After accumulating significant experience as a content writer across varied fields at companies such as The Indian Wire, DigiStatement, and QuirkyByte Media, he eventually settled on writing about his favorite genre - pop culture.

Anupal believes in conducting in-depth research while writing about any topic and relies on varied sources to ensure he produces holistic articles. He also often glances through content that was published in the 80s and 90s to gain a better understanding of the subject he is covering.

Anupal admires Robert Downey Jr., who played one of his favorite Marvel superheroes, Iron Man. He is inspired by the actor's resilience and the determination in overcoming past struggles to building a successful Hollywood career and admires the way he articulates his thoughts while speaking in interviews.

If Anupal could travel back in time, he would love to experience James Cameron's 2009 film 'Avatar' in a theatre full of fans. When he's not busy working, he binges on the latest OTT titles across languages.

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