LetsSingIt the internet lyrics database
en
0
picture

Roy Clark

3
4.0 / 5
New content available, review now!
Artist info:
Also known as
Verified yes
Rank
Albums79
Songs255
About In the '70s, Roy Clark symbolized country music in the U.S.
and abroad. Between guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on The
Tonight Show and performing to packed houses in the Soviet
Union on a tour that sold out all 18 concerts, he used his
musical talent and his entertaining personality to bring
country music into homes across the world. As one of the
hosts of TV's Hee Haw (Buck Owens was the other) for more
than 20 years, Clark picked and sang and offered country
corn to 30 million people weekly. He is first and foremost an
entertainer, drawing crowds at venues as different as Las
Vegas, Atlantic City, and the Opry. His middle-of-the-road
approach has filled a national void, with Clark offering
country that was harder-edged than Kenny Rogers but softer
and more accessible than Waylon Jennings. Among his
numerous vocal hits are "Yesterday, When I Was Young"
and "Thank God and Greyhound." Instrumentally he has won
awards, for both guitar and banjo. Clark has also co-starred
on the silver screen with Mel Tillis, in the comedy Uphill All
the Way.

The son of two amateur musicians, Roy Clark began playing
banjo, guitar, and mandolin at an early age. By the time he
was 14, he was playing guitar behind his father at local
dances. Within a few years, he had won two National Banjo
Championships, with his second win earning him an
appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. Despite his success as a
musician, Clark decided to pursue an athletic career,
rejecting baseball for boxing. At the age of 17, he won 15
fights in a row before deciding that he would rather be a
musician than a fighter.

Clark found work at local clubs, radio stations, and television
shows. By 1955, he was a regular on Jimmy Dean's D.C.
-based television show, Country Style. Once Dean left
Washington for New York, Clark took over the show, and over
the next few years he earned a reputation as an excellent
musician and entertainer. In 1960, he decided to leave the
East Coast to pursue his fame and fortune out West. That
year, he became the leader of Wanda Jackson's band,
playing on her hit singles like "Let's Have a Party," as well as
touring with the singer and playing concerts with her in Las
Vegas. Once Jackson decided to break up her band, Clark
continued to play regularly at the Frontier Hotel in Vegas and
through his new manager, Jackson's ex-manager Jim Halsey,
he landed spots on The Tonight Show and the sitcom The
Beverly Hillbillies, where he played both Cousin Roy and Big
Mama Halsey.

In 1963, Clark signed to Capitol Records, and his first single
for the label, "Tips of My Fingers," became a Top Ten hit.
Over the next two years, he had a handful of minor hits for
Capitol before he switched labels, signing with Dot in 1968.
At Dot, his career took off again, through covers of pop
songs like Charles Aznavour's "Yesterday, When I Was
Young" (number nine, 1969). However, what really turned
Clark's career around was not records, but rather a
television show called Hee Haw. Conceived as a country
version of Laugh-In, Hee Haw began its run in 1969 on CBS.
Roy Clark and Bakersfield country pioneer Buck Owens were
picked as co-hosts. Over the next two years, it was one of
the most popular shows on television. In 1971, CBS dropped
the show because its corny country humor didn't fit the
network's new, urban image, but Hee Haw quickly moved
into syndication, where it continued to thrive throughout the
decade.

While Hee Haw was at the height of its popularity, Clark had a
string of country hits that ranged from Top Ten singles like "I
Never Picked Cotton" (1970), "Thank God and Greyhound"
(1970), "The Lawrence Welk — Hee Haw Counter-Revolution
Polka" (1972), "Come Live With Me" (1973), "Somewhere
Between Love and Tomorrow" (1973), "Honeymoon Feelin'"
(1974), and "If I Had It to Do All Over Again" (1976) to a
multitude of minor hits. Though he didn't consistently top the
country charts, Clark became one of the most recognizable
faces in country music, appearing on television commercials,
Hee Haw, and touring not only the United States but a
number of other countries, including a groundbreaking
sojourn to the Soviet Union in 1976. Frequently, he played
concerts and recorded albums with a wide variety of
musicians from other genres, including the Boston Pops
Orchestra and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

In 1979, the momentum of his career began to slow down, as
he left his longtime label ABC/Dot for MCA. Over the next
two years, he had a number of minor hits before leaving the
label. He recorded one inspirational album for Songbird in
1981 before signing to Churchill in 1982. Hee Haw's audience
was beginning to decline in the early '80s, but Clark
diversified his interests by investing in property, minor
-league baseball teams, cattle, publishing, and advertising.
None of Clark's recordings for Churchill were big hits, and his
brief stays at Silver Dollar in 1986 and Hallmark in 1989 also
resulted in no hits. Nevertheless, Clark had become a
country icon by the mid-'80s, so his lack of sales didn't
matter — he continued to sell out concerts and win awards;
he even made the comedy Western Uphill All the Way in
1986 with Mel Tillis. In 1987, he was belatedly made a
member of the Grand Ole Opry. During the '90s, Clark
concentrated on performing at his theater in Branson, MO,
sporadically releasing re-recordings of his big hits on a
variety of small labels, though 2000's Live at Billy Bob's
Texas marked his first live release in nearly a decade.
Christmas Memories followed that same year.

Most Popular Songs (More)

Most Popular Albums (More)

Artists you may also like

Similar genre
Popular on LetsSingIt
New on LetsSingIt
show more artists with similar genre
show this week's top 1000 most popular artists
show all recently added artists

Pictures (0)

no pictures

Fans (3)

JacqGphil1janeine

Contributors

leaderboard
activity

Comments (0)