ROY CLARK, 1933-2018
Roy Clark, the celebrated multi-instrumentalist who brought country music into millions of American homes via the TV show Hee Haw, died Thursday of complications from pneumonia at home in Tulsa, Okla. He was 85.
A “superpicker,” Clark was one of the first country artists to cross over to pop. And deep into Hee Haw record-setting run in syndication, he was a pioneer is making Branson, Mo., a live music destination.
Clark spent 24 years as Hee Haw front man, most famously partnering with Buck Owens for more than a decade and a half as co-host. The show was heavy on down-home humor augmented by the presence of Clark, who represented Nashville, and Owens, the pride of the California sound out of Bakersfield.
The show would provide a national platform for two or three country artists per week, among them Loretta Lynn, who made 24 appearanes on the show, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Conway Twitty and Reba McEntire.
“Roy Clark was a revered figure in country music,” said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. “As a top-notch instrumentalist, TV star, and concert entertainer, Clark was an ambassador for the genre who helped broaden country music's reach. He was just as at home hosting the zany country comedy show Hee Haw as he was playing guitar at a virtuoso level.
“The country music community has lost one of its most cherished musicians. He will be dearly missed, and our thoughts are with his loved ones during this difficult time.”
Born in Meherrin, Va., and raised in Washington, D.C., to a bandleader father, he got his musical start by learning banjo and mandolin. He received his first guitar he was 14, in 1947, the same year he made his first TV appearance.
His father hired Clark to play in his square dance band when he was 15, which led to Clark dropping out of high school to play bars in and around D.C.
He won a national banjo competition in 1950, which led to his debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Rather than set up shop in Nashville, Clark stayed in D.C. to play with country, jazz, pop, and early rock & roll acts. He joined Jimmy Dean and the Texas Wildcats in 1954.
After opening for Wanda Jackson at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas in 1960, Clark went out solo on his own tour, performing 345 straight nights in a row.
Capitol signed him, releasing his debut, The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark and his second album, The Tips of My Fingers, in 1963. He had his first hit single with “The Tips of My Fingers,” which went Top 10 country and Top 50 on the pop chart.
Clark recorded five albums for Capitol before moving to Dot where he remained through the 1970s as it went through several ownership changes.
Beyond his impressive musicianship, Clark had an easy-going demeanor that made him a welcome guest on variety shows through the 1960s: The Tonight Show, Mike Douglas Show, Flip Wilson, Joey Bishop Show, Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, etc.; in the 1970s, he subbed for Johnny Carson as guest host on The Tonight Show more than 15 times.
In 1969, Hee Haw went on the air as a countrified take on Laugh-In, filling in for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as a summer replacement. CBS broadcast the show for two-and-a-half years, and, despite ranking in the Top 20, dropped it from the schedule as the network chose to focus on demographic rather than overall ratings. The show promptly went into syndication nd ran until 1992 with Clark as co-host for its nearly 300 episodes. (Owens left in 1986).
While He Haw was on air, Clark scored multiple country hits, his biggest being “Yesterday, When I Was Young,” which reached #19 pop and #9 country in 1969. He had eight Top 10 country albums: Roy Clark’s Family Album (1974), Come Live With Me (1973), Roy Cark Live! (1973), Roy Clark/Entertainer (1974), Superstar (1973), I Never Picked Cotton (1970), Yesterday, When I Was Young (1969), A Pair of Fives (1975), and Roy Clark Country! (1970).
He won a Grammy, for Best Country Instrumental Performance, for “Alabama Jubilee” in 1982; the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year in 1973 and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1972 and ’73. Clark became the first country artist to headline at the Montreux International Jazz Festival and, in 1976, he went on a sold-out tour of the Soviet Union.
In 1982, he was the first entertainer to open his own theater in Branson and he performed in it consistently from 1983 to 1996.
Clark’s autobiography, My Life—In Spite of Myself! written with Marc Elliot, was published in 1994.
He received the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award, was the 63rd member of the Grand Ole Opry and inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. A memorial celebration will be held in the coming days in Tulsa, Okla., details forthcoming.
