Clarin West

**Clarinara Weston Whitley Pinto** (née **Whitley**; December 5, 1971 – November 28, 2000), known professionally by her stage name **Clarin West**, was a singer, songwriter, record producer, and model. Her career spanned three decades, having begun when she was 12 years old. She was trained as a teen idol then signed to Spin Top Records in 1984. Under the label, West released three studio albums—*Claris Whitley* (1986), *Second Tries* (1987), *New Small World* (1988)—and spawned eleven top 10 singles—"Firefly", "Knock! Knock! Knock!", "A Dozen Words", "Some Girls", "Another Day", "I'd Do It All Over Again", "Run and Jump to the Sky", "What's Your Purpose?", "Responsible", "New Small World", and "The Sea of Love"—between 1985 and 1989.

Dubbed as the 'godmother of flawed-female pop', she was known for writing songs often discussing emotional instability, desperation, toxic relationships, gender identity, and kinks. After leaving Spin Top, she founded the Sony-backed label Westernizer in 1989. During a dark period in her life, she met up Elon "Hotpoint" Pinto, who co-produced for her double album *Anti-Fragile* and *The Big, Bold & Beautiful* (1990). "Anti-Fragile", "(He Gave Me Some) Whiplash" and "Joker" were tracks that transformed the singer's image into that of a sex symbol. The first album of the trilogy was followed up with "I'm Your Woman".

After a depression bout triggered by traumatic events like her husband's death anniversary, West committed suicide by hanging herself on November 28, 2000. She was 28 years old.

## Early life

Clarinara Weston Whitley was born on December 5, 1971, at Suburban Hospital in the city of Bethesda, Maryland. She was the youngest of a daughter and two sons that her father James Anthony "Tony" Whitley (1937–2021) and her mother Lucinda Ashton Whitley (née Norton; born 1938).

## Life and career

### 1990–1992: Career rebranding, *Anti-Fragile*, *The Big, Bold & Beautiful*, and marriage

She married her producer in June 4, 1990. Upon discovery, it was reported that her family were disapproving of the marriage, and persuaded her to annul to no avail. It was sexless, and West and Pinto's relations quickly derailed.

## Death

During a 3-month trip to Japan, West and Antwon was staying a home rented in Nara. After a bout of depression triggered by the anniversary of her husband's death, disappearance of her puppy, killing of her best friend and loss of motivation for her ninth studio album, she began thinking thoughts of death and "joining her family".

In the evening of November 28, 2000, after finishing a stand-up gig, Antwon found his girlfriend West hanged on their ceiling. The light was off, which possibly could have been the circuit broken from the rope's pressure on the electrical wire. A 3-page note written in third-person was left on the counter next to Antwon's bedside. Her daughter Bella (age 8 years) was in the living room watching *One Piece* with Oscar (9 months).

She died at the age of 28, a week before her 29th birthday.

### Aftermath

#### Family and friends' response

Ashton Norton, the last person called on the phone, was the first relative to be interviewed by a professional journalist on the matter.

## Image

### Media persona

Prior to the 1990s decade, West was a teen idol and was said to have a massive impact on teen girls' image. Retrospective analysts cite this to her tendency to open up about her struggles that relate to adolescence and being a minority.

She lost a chunk of her younger fanbase after a decline in sales of teen pop albums. To reinvent her image, she insisted that it needed to be true to her unadulterated nature as though she was in her 20s.

Now legally an adult, West was regarded as a sex symbol. A broadsheet newspaper drew ire for a satirical cartoon of her on all fours as Hotpoint's sex slave following her 18th birthday in 1989. This status put pressure on her personally as it meant her attitude would be conflated to what "out of touch, old creepy executives" thought of her.

After her role in *Echo and Narcissus*, she was voted as one of the Sexiest Women by *Sheep* in 1992.

Amidst the release of *Anti-Fragile*, her management company would trick gossip newspapers into a persona that college-aged West was a savage sexual deviant willing to have an affair with rich men if it means getting a job. Personally, West was indifferent by the narrative being played by the mass media.

In 1993, she was listed number 19 among the 100 Most Influential Figures.

### Personality

In her childhood, family and friends described her as being hyperactive, and impulsive. They account this to the time when 6-year-old West with a group of playmates punctured a neighbor's pool and jumped the middle-aged homeowner. Despite the battery/assault, no complaints were made nor any charges were filed against her parents.

By age 13, her personality changed as a result of newfound fame and bullying. She became more selectively reserved, reckless, and had frequent violent mood swings. Her parents medicated her regularly although to little effect. Overtime, West regained control over her emotions and was able to re-stabilize her relationships.

While a sophomore in high school, she was diagnosed with BPD, bipolar II, and body dysmorphia. To cover this up, she displayed a more socially extroverted and playful façade that would serve useful for romance and pet ownership.

## Personal life

Contrary to common belief, West never abused drugs or alcohol. However, she was a regular smoker. It's often said that her voice regressed from a clear and bright mezzo-soprano to a rugged low one because of her smoking habits.

Her maternal cousin is historian and actor Ashton Norton.

### Relationships

According to a 2000 biography, she had dated at least 25 people between her adolescence and age 28. Her refusal to stay committed is said to have been a result of BPD, though no one is certain.

Following her separation from Elon Pinto in 1997, she infamously dated rapper Cheeze Doda for 2 months. He broke up with her after she rejected his engagement.

For eight months before her death by suicide, she was in a relationship with Antoine Fairfax "Antwon" Plano, who was half of the Grace, a comedy duo. With Plano fathering, she was expecting a third child, whom would die in the womb.

#### Relationship and marriage with Elon Pinto

Her first serious relationship began in December 1989 when she (18) was paired up with Hotpoint leader Elon Pinto (29) in preparation for a Christmas charity concert. Initially, they hated each other, couldn't work around their "big egos" nor their different personalities. However, after hearing a demo cassette tape of "Anti-Fragile", Pinto offered to produce parts of the album the track was meant for. Eventually after a few sessions with him, West grew feelings of lust she would fantasize and began writing compositions about the encounters ("Teach Me More (in E Locrian)" from *Anti-Fragile*, "Heat in the Booth" from *The Big, Bold & Beautiful*) that he would produce.

Around the time *Anti-Fragile* and half of *The Big, Bold & Beautiful* was completed in March 1990 was reportedly when West and Pinto went public with their romantic relationship. After graduating high school, West took a gap year to cohabitate with Pinto after marrying him on June 4, 1990. There was no engagement prior, nor was there any wedding ceremony. After a turbulent six months of marriage in January 7, 1991, instead of filing for divorce, West requested an annulment citing it was not consummated.

In spite of the dissolution, the couple resumed their romance after the Anti-Fragility World Tour ended in November 1991. In April 1992, it was announced that the two were expecting their first child. West gave birth to their daughter Arabella Whitley Pinto at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on September 3, 1992. Pinto and West briefly broke up soon after Arabella's birth. Again, they reconciled on terms that the affinity was now non-monogamous.

While embarking on the Bruiser World Tour in early 1994, Pinto proposed to West onstage. They re-wed on December 1, 1994: there was a ceremony this time. Both parties agreed in a 1995 interview that their second marriage was "absolutely stronger than [the first one]". West's seventh studio album *Sunshine* was dedicated to Pinto, and was initially recorded on a whim after a hyper-manic episode triggered by the life event.

In June 28, 1999, an SUV collided into the Hotpoint tour bus which seriously injured the frontman Elon Pinto, and killed both drivers and five passengers (two of whom were HP members). Pinto was rushed to the hospital, where he was under intensive care. It was discovered that he suffered deep skull fractures and a cranial haemorrhage as a result, as well as severe spinal cord trauma. West visited her estranged husband, contacted with his relatives and friends, and sent him a music composition sheet that she completed for him. Over a few days, a concert with a small orchestra on top of the hospital roof would take place in hopes for a recovery for Pinto. It raised about $725,000, which would cover the full cost for a lifelong operation/therapy process. When Pinto was discharged in September, he lost 40% of his memory, was paralyzed and wheelchair-bound. He also reportedly refused to take medication and spent the money raised by his wife on crippling alcoholism and drug abuse. After West found him almost in syncope in October, she attempted to persuade him to rehabilitation but was rejected.

On November 28, 1999, after a long battle with drug addiction and alcoholism added with severe physical disability, Pinto died in his sleep. An autopsy was carried out out of West and the coroner's recommendation: the cause of death was ruled out to be a complication from drug-induced epilepsy. A funeral was held for him two weeks later, and West would inherit 40% of his estate's property in accordance to his will.

Their second child, a son named Oscar Owens, had a posthumous birth, having been born in February 2000.

West's boyfriend Antwon and cousin Ashton Norton eventually took care of the couple's two children after both of their parents' deaths.

### Education

She completed her part-time studying in Berklee with a master's degree in music education in 1997. For a brief period when she was sober (in 1998), she was an assistant professor at the Royal Academy of Music.

### As Claris Whitley

* *Claris Whitley* (1986)
	+ "Firefly" -- 30/8/1985, peak #8
	+ "Knock, Knock, Knock!" -- 28/9/1985, peak #4
	+ "A Dozen Words" -- 7/2/1986, peak #1
	+ "Some Girls" -- 7/3/1986, peak #9
	+ "On My Toes" -- /8/1986 peak #12
* *Second Tries* (1987)
	+ "Another Day" -- 5/1987, peak #1
	+ "I'd Do It All Over Again" -- 9/1987
	+ "Run and Jump to the Sky" -- 9/1987
	+ "What is Your Purpose?" -- 11/1987
* *New Small World* (1988)
	+ "Responsible" -- 1988, peak #2
	+ "New Small World" -- 1988, peak #1
	+ "The Sea of Love" -- 1989

### As Clarin West

* *Anti-Fragile* (1990)
* *The Big, Bold & Beautiful* (1990)
* *Bruiser* (1993)
* *Sunshine* (1996)
* *S.A.S.: Safe.And.Sound* (1997)
* *Long Days on the East Sea* (2001, posthumous)