‘Candy Licker’ singer Marvin Sease dead at 64

VICKSBURG, Mississippi (AP) - Brett Bonner, editor of Living Blues Magazine, says Sease started in gospel music in South Carolina before moving to New York and eventually playing R&B...

TheGrio Staff

Feb 9, 2011

VICKSBURG, Mississippi (AP) — Marvin Sease, a blues and soul singer known for his 1980s hit “Candy Licker,” has died after a lengthy illness. He was 64.

James Jefferson, owner of Jefferson Funeral Home in Vicksburg, Mississippi, says Sease died Tuesday at River Region Medical Center.

Sease was born in Blacksville, South Carolina.

Brett Bonner, editor of Living Blues Magazine, says Sease started in gospel music in South Carolina before moving to New York and eventually playing rhythm and blues. Bonner says after “Candy Licker” was released in the late 1980s, Sease became popular for his live performances in the South. Bonner says many of Sease’s song were too dirty for airplay.

Sease had been living in Vicksburg.