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Country great Roy Clark was born in Meherrin, Va., on April
15, 1933, the son of two amateur musicians who nurtured his
natural musical talent. By age 14 Clark had learned guitar,
banjo and mandolin, and was performing at local dances; he
soon went on to win two National Banjo Championships, which
led to an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry.
Like
many country stars, Clark was both a musician and a gifted
athlete; in his case, Clark was good at both baseball and
boxing, winning over a dozen amateur fights before turning 18
and choosing to concentrate on his music. After gigging at
local clubs and making occasional radio and TV appearances,
Clark moved to Washington, D.C. and later New York to advance
his career.
After gaining a small national reputation during the 1950s --
as much because of his affable personality as his highly
listenable pop-country ballads -- Clark moved to the West
Coast around 1960 to take a position in Wanda Jackson's
backing band. Several years later Jackson broke up her band,
but Clark elected to stay out west, landing a regular spot at
the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. As his fame grew, Clark began
appearing on higher-profile TV programs, including “The
Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Tonight Show.” By 1963 he had
landed a deal with Capitol Records and scored his first Top 10
hit with “Tips of My Fingers.”
Throughout the 1960s Clark
built momentum, scoring a string of minor hits before jumping
to Dot Records and pursuing an even more pop-oriented
direction with hits like “Yesterday, When I Was Young,”
originally by Charles Aznavour. In 1969 he got his biggest
break when, a TV veteran and established mainstream country
musician, Clark was asked to appear on the new television
“country comedy” show called “Hee Haw,” splitting host duties
with Buck Owens. The show was a surprise success, especially
in syndication, where it became one of the more popular shows
of the 1970s.
To mainstream America, Roy
Clark became synonymous with country music. Naturally, his
newfound TV fame translated into increased record sales, with
singles like “I Never Picked Cotton,” “Thank God and
Greyhound,” “Yesterday When I Was Young,” “Come Live With Me,”
and others entering the Top 10 in rapid succession.
In 1976 Roy Clark made country
music history when he became the first major country musician
to tour the Soviet Union. At the same time he began expanding
his mainstream appeal back home by appearing as a guest host
on “The Tonight Show.” Though by the 1980s he adopted a lower
profile musically, Clark remained active in business and
entertainment, investing in various successful enterprises
while simultaneously appearing in the 1986 western/comedy
Uphill All the Way and running a very popular theater in
Branson, Mo. Clark continues to perform, and, occasionally,
record, to this day.
Seth Hindin
Rolling Stone
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