Roy Clark

Roy Clark, a co-host of the long-running American television variety show 'Hee-Haw', with many hit albums and singles of his own, was a country music singer whose voice was enhanced by his contagious personality and highly regarded skill on the guitar. 'Hee Haw', which has aired on and off since 1969, features music and broad rural comedy and Clark was among the most popular artists. He contributed to both elements and provided a firm basis of fine musicianship along with the hayseed clowning. When the Virginia-born entertainer died aged 85 on 15th April 2018, the Country Music Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 2009, called him one of America's "most beloved entertainers" and said he "delighted crowds from small-town venues to Las Vegas showrooms with his singing, showmanship, instrumental prowess and comedy". Born to a musical family in the small town of Meherrin in Virginia, he learned to play the guitar, fiddle and banjo from his parents and, growing up in Washington D.C. he won the National Banjo Championship in 1947 and 1948. He made his debut on 'The Grand Ole Opry' aged 17. He formed a duo with guitarist Carl Lukat and toured America performing with artists including David 'Stringbean' Akeman, Annie Lou and Danny Dill, Lonzo and Oscar and Hal and Velma Smith often accompanying stars such as Red Foley and Ernest Tubb. He had a stint with country star Jimmy Dean, was runner-up on 'Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts' TV show and played in Wanda Jackson's band in Las Vegas. He appeared on TV shows including 'The Beverly Hillbillies', 'The Jackie Gleason Show' and 'The Tonight Show' and established the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre in Branson, Missouri, which went on to become a major hub for entertainers with their own venues such as Andy Williams, Mickey Gilley and Mel Tillis. He started to headline his own shows in Las Vegas and around the country and in 1969 he joined Californian country singer Buck Owens as co-hosts of 'Hee Haw'. He had 50 singles on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Chart with nine in the top ten including 'Yesterday, When I Was Young' (1969), 'I Never Picked Cotton' (1970), 'Somewhere Between Love and Tomorrow' (1974), 'Honeymoon Feelin'' (1974) and 'If I Had to Do It All Over Again' (1976). He had 28 releases on the Top Country Albums Chart with nine in the top ten and he won several Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards and a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for 'Alabama Jubilee' in 1982. He toured internationally throughout his career and in 1976 he was among the first American entertainers to perform in the Soviet Union. He published an autobiography, 'My Life - In Spite of Myself' in 1994. He died of complications from pneumonia at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2018.

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