Del Shannon

b. Charles Westover, 30 December 1934, Coopersville, Michigan, USA, d. 8 February 1990. From the plethora of clean, American, post doo-wop male vocalists to find enormous success in the early '60s, only a small handful retained musical credibility. Shannon was undoubtedly from this pedigree. More than 30 years after his chart debut, Shannon's work is still regularly played. His early musical interests took him under the country influence of the legendary Hank Williams. Shannon's first record release however was pure gutsy pop; the infectious melody was written by accident while rehearsing in the local Hi-Lo club with keyboard player Max Crook (Maximillian). The song was Runaway, a spectacular debut that reached the top of the charts in the USA and UK, and was subsequently recorded by dozens of admiring artists. The single, with its shrill sounding Musitron (an instrument created by Crook) together with Shannon's falsetto, was irresistible. Johnny Bienstock, who was running Big Top records in New York, received a telephone order following a Miami radio station playing the track once. The order was for an unprecedented 39,000 copies. It was at that stage that Bienstock knew he had unleashed a major star. Shannon succeeded where others failed, due to his talent as a composer and his apparent maturity, appealing to the public with a clear youthful strident voice. This paradox was cleared up many years later, when it was discovered that he was five years older than stated. Had this come out in 1961, it is debatable whether he would have competed successfully alongside his fresh-faced contemporaries. His teenage tales of loneliness, despair, broken hearts, failed relationships, infidelity and ultimate doom, found a receptive audience. Shannon would rarely use the word ‘love’ in his lyrics. Even the plaintive, almost happy, 1962 hit Swiss Maid combined his trademark falsetto with yodelling, ending with the heroine dying, forlorn and unhappy. Over the next three years Shannon continued to produce and write his own material with great success, especially in Britain, where his run of 10 consecutive hits ended with Sue's Gotta Be Mine in October 1963. In the interim, he had produced several memorable Top 10 successes, including the bitingly acerbic Hats Off To Larry and Little Town Flirt, which betrayed an almost misogynistic contempt. The re-worked themes of his songs were now beginning to pale, and together with the growth of Merseybeat, Shannon's former regular appearances in the charts became sporadic, even though he was the first American artist to record a Beatles' song, From Me To You.
Shannon worked steadily for the next 25 years, enjoying a few more hit singles including a cover version of Bobby Freeman's Do You Wanna Dance, followed by Handy Man, formerly a hit for Jimmy Jones, from whom he ‘borrowed’ his famous falsetto. In 1965 Keep Searchin’ was Shannon's last major success. The song had an elegiac feel, recalling an era of innocence already passed. Throughout the '60s and '70s Shannon was a regular visitor to Britain where he found a smaller but more appreciative audience. He acquired many professional admirers over the years including Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Dave Edmunds, who variously helped him rise above his sad decline into a nether world of alcohol and pills. The 1981 Petty-produced DROP DOWN AND GET ME was critically well-received but sold poorly. Ironically, he received a belated hit in America with Sea Of Love, which found favour in 1982. This led to a brief renaissance for him in the USA. Although Shannon was financially secure through wise property investment, he still performed regularly. Ultimately however, he was branded to rock ‘n’ roll revival tours which finally took their toll on 8 February 1990, when a severely depressed Shannon pointed a .22 calibre rifle to his head and pulled the trigger, ending the misery echoed in his catalogue of hits.