Del Shannon was born this day in 1934

[RockabillyNBlues]

Del Shannon was born this day in 1934. Hear some of his biggest tunes like "Runaway", "Little Town Flirt" and more here- http://rockabillynblues.blogspot.com/2011/12/del-shannon-was-born-this-day-in-1934.html

[SMiLE Brian]

RIP Del, but your awesome music lives on.

[Ron]

When I was a kid, one of our favorite things to do was watch the PBS telathons where they'd play oldies shows, or parts of them, and try to get people to pledge money.  Del Shannon was on one this one year, and did "Hat's Off to Larry" and "Runaway".  I always thought the guy was great. 


"Hat's Off to Larry" - great song, it has that real grit in it that he was great at.  His guitar work was always good too.  Nothing really fancy or antyhing, but just ROCK AND ROLL.  Clean tone with a nice little growl in it. 

"Little Town Flirt" - same thing.  Listen to the guitar.  Great stuff.  He had a really  fantastic voice, too... he could sing it straight, he had that incredible falsetto, and also had a nice gritty Rock voice he could slide into.  In this song, he does all 3. 

"Searchin' ".  - One of my favorites.  Just awesome, a total HELL of music.  Del eventually committed suicide, the insanity it takes to do that helped make this song back in the day. 

Lots of great music from this guy.  He was also (I BELIEVE!) involved with the band "Smith" back in the day, famous for their cover of Baby It's You. 

[Lowbacca]

Big fan here! Dug up his superb Del Shannon Sings Hank Williams today..

My question: is anyone aware of good literature on Del Shannon? I only know of this (↓) book and what I've heard isn't that promising.








P.S. Also, could this be changed into the 'official' Del Shannon thread? I'd like to discuss him some more. Interesting fellow/musician.

[Lonely Summer]

I will never forget when he died, it tore me up. Had just seen him on Later with Bob Costas a few months before and he seemed fine. Costas was one of the few tv guys that could talk intelligently with music stars, cause he respected their work and knew their history.