The singer’s son announced his death on Dec. 14.

Carl Carlton, funk legend and ‘She’s a Bad Mamma Jama’ singer, dies at 72

The singer's son announced his death on Dec. 14.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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December 15, 2025 12:07 p.m. ET

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Carl Carlton in 2006. Credit:

Adam Bettcher/WireImage for Starkey Hearing Foundation

Carl Carlton, funk and R&B singing legend best known for the hits "She's a Bad Mama Jama" and "Everlasting Love," has died. He was 72.

Carlton's son, Carlton Hudgens II, shared the tragic news on Sunday via a tribute posted on Facebook. "RIP Dad, Legend Carl Carlton, singer of 'She's a Bad Mama Jama,'" he wrote alongside a photo of the late musician. "Long hard fight in life and you will be missed."

Hudgens also shared a photo of Carlton on his Facebook Stories, writing, "R.I.P Dad, You can finally rest now. Always love you."

Carl Carlton in 1970.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Funk group Confunkshun also paid tribute to Carlton on Facebook, writing, "With heavy hearts, we mourn the passing of the legendary Carl Carlton. His voice, talent, and contributions to soul and R&B music will forever be a part of our lives and the soundtrack of so many memories."

"Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world," the post ends. "Rest in power, Carl. Your legacy lives on."

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The news of Carlton's passing comes six years after he suffered from complications of a stroke, per Soultracks.com.

Carlton was born May 21, 1953, in Detroit, Mich., where he began his career in the mid-1960s as "Little Carl" Carlton. After scoring minor local hits such as "So What" and "Don't You Need a Boy Like Me," Don D. Robey signed Carlton to the Back Beat Records label. The singer relocated to Houston, Texas, where he saw more mainstream success under his own name with hits like 1971's "I Can Feel It," which spent weeks on the Billboard Soul Singles chart.

It was in 1974 that Carlton dropped his first major hit, a disco remake of Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love." The song peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the Billboard R&B chart. and has proven to be a long-lasting success, reaching over 25 million streams on Spotify.

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His second major hit came in 1981, with the Leon Haywood-written single "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)." The song became an instant club favorite, peaking at number 2 on the soul chart and earning Carlton a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards. The accompanying album, *Carl Carlton*, went gold in the same year.

"She's a Bad Mama Jama" has also proven to be a goldmine of a song, going on to be sampled by a plethora of other musicians, and also used in soundtracks for multiple films such as *Miss Congeniality 2 *and *Fat Albert.*

Carl Carlton performing on June 22, 2007.

Monica Morgan/WireImage

Carlton released several more albums in the 1980s with moderate success, and briefly went into hiatus after the release of *Private Property *in 1985. He subsequently released two more albums: *Main Event *in 1994 and *God Is Good *in 2010. The latter earned Carlton a Detroit Music Award nomination for Outstanding Gospel/Christian Vocalist.

As DJ D-Nice wrote in his Instagram tribute for the late musician, "Gone, but forever in rotation."**

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