Del Shannon

Del Shannon (born 30 December 1934 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, † February 8, 1990 in Santa Clarita, California), civil Charles Weedon Westover, was an American singer, composer and lyricist, who in the 1960s both in the United States was successful as well as in the UK.

Life

Westover grew up as the son of a truck driver in the predominantly agricultural town of Coopersville on in the U.S. state of Michigan. Already as a student was playing guitar his great passion. In 1956 he was drafted into the army and stationed in Stuttgart. During his time in the army he had the opportunity to perfect his guitar playing, he won a talent competition and got the Frankfurt Army Radio AFN own radio show, " Ged Up And Go". After he was discharged from the army in 1958, he returned to Michigan, married his childhood sweetheart, Shirley and settled in Battle Creek, a 50,000 inhabitants town in southern Michigan, down. He worked as a carpet merchant, and established a country-rock band, with whom he performed in clubs. During this time he took the stage name Del Shannon, where Del was derived from his favorite car Cadillac Coupe Devill and Shannon was the name of the revered Westover wrestler Mark Shannon. The black disc jockey and record producer Ollie McLaughin gave him a recording contract with the New York record company Bigtop. Shannon recorded two tracks that were not published.

Then Shannon texted your own title, for his band keyboardist Max Crook provided the music. The song Runaway ( German: " outliers ") was added to the Bell Studios New York on 24 January 1961, published by Bigtop in February. Shannon's striking falsetto voice and melancholy lyrics hit the public taste, within three weeks Runaway was on Billboard in the top 100 and reached number one on April 24, 1961. At times, plates were sold daily to 80,000. The British record company, London took the title out also, who was also in the UK to a No. 1 hit. Shannon remained with his subsequent recordings successfully, composed many songs and he wrote the lyrics himself, his subjects were tragic. Although he repeatedly changed the record companies, it was found regularly in the United States until 1966 among the top 100. With titles Hats Off to Larry (1961 - 5 ) and Keep Searchin (1964 - 9 ), he came in Billboard back into the top 10 in the UK were also more Hey! Little Girl ( 1961 - 2 ), The Swiss Maid (1962 - 2 ), Little Town Flirt (1962 - 4 ) and Two Kinds of Teardrops (1963 - 5 ) in the top 10 In 1963, Shannon with a BerLee own record company, with but one he brought out only two of him sung singles, one of which could even place Sue's Gotta Be Mine ( USA: 71, GB 21 with the London label). His last chart listing reached in 1966 published by Liberty The Big Hurt, which landed on Billboard at number 33.

In contrast to many other colleagues, Shannon was not afraid to face the competition of the beat groups. Instead, he joined forces with the Beatles in England and successfully released a cover version of the Beatles song From Me To You in the States. The British singing duo Peter & Gordon made ​​the Shannon - Composition I Go To Pieces in the UK for another success. Experiments with the punk rock sound then, however, led to the temporary end of his music career. The change in 1966 to Liberty brought out The Big Hurt no more success. End of the sixties Shannon produced for the country singer Johnny Carver and worked for a while with the Monkees. A good grip as a producer he succeeded with the discovery by Brian Hyland. The first half of the seventies brought more or less success with the release of albums, tours and collaborations with other musicians. Increasingly, alcohol addiction had a negative impact on his career. It is the combination with producer Tom Petty, who helped the late seventies, the old rock stars with modern arrangements to bounce back, Shannon's improved position. With Petty's help, he published in 1981, the album Drop Down And Get Me, which received excellent reviews and its extraction Sea Of Love climb into the Top 30. Shannon was asked again and used his new relevance for two years with successful tours through the States, Britain, Germany and Australia. Recognition from his young audience, he created himself as a composer of soundtracks for the films Grease and Street Hero.

1984 Shannon moved to Nashville, signed a contract with Warner Brothers, trying a new comeback as a country singer. The most successful he was here with his own compositions. His own record In My Arms Again made ​​the jump to the U.S. country charts, the title sung by Juice Newton Cheap Love reached number 10 in 1986 even in the same year found out Shannon's old song Runaway success a resurrection as the theme song of the TV crime series Crime Story. When Roy Orbison died in 1988, Shannon has acted as his successor in the Traveling Wilburys, where he had worked among others in addition to George Harrison and Bob Dylan. There, however, did not come, because Del Shannon, more and more plagued by depression, shot himself on February 8, 1990. 1998 Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Discography

Chart-topping singles

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