Singer left in badly torn coat (9)
I believe the answer is:
contralto
'singer' is the definition.
(I know that contralto is a type of singer)
'left in badly torn coat' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'left' could be 'l' (common abbreviation) and 'l' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'torn' is 'ontr' which is within the answer.
an anagram of 'coat' is 'cato' which is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for contralto that I've seen before include "Lowest range for a woman singer" , "Female voice of the lower register." , "Singer - not car lot (anag)" , "Lowest female singing voice" , "Total corn! (anag)" .)