Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer, musician, and television presenter. He is best known for having hosted Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and in helping to popularize the genre.
For other people named Roy Clark, see Roy Clark (disambiguation).
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark
April 15, 1933
Meherrin, Virginia, U.S.
November 15, 2018 (aged 85)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
- Singer
- musician
- TV host
- Vocals
- guitar
- banjo
- fiddle
- harmonica
1947–2018
During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw. Clark was highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist, banjo player, and fiddler. He was skilled in the traditions of many genres, including classical guitar, country music, Latin music, bluegrass, and pop. He had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., "Yesterday, When I Was Young" and "Thank God and Greyhound"), and his instrumental skill had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1987, and, in 2009, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He published his autobiography, My Life—in Spite of Myself, in 1994.[1]
Early life[edit]
Clark was born April 15, 1933, in Meherrin, Virginia,[2] one of five children[3] born to Hester Linwood Clark and Lillian Clark (Oliver).[4] His father was a tobacco farmer.[4] He spent his childhood in Meherrin and New York City, where his father moved the family to take jobs during the Great Depression.[5] When Clark was 11 years old, his family moved to a home on 1st Street SE in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Washington, D.C.,[6] after his father found work at the Washington Navy Yard.[7]
Clark's father was a semi-professional musician who played banjo, fiddle, and guitar,[5] and his mother played piano.[4] The first musical instrument Clark ever played was a four-string cigar box with a ukulele neck attached to it,[4] which he picked up in elementary school.[8] His father taught Clark to play guitar[4] when Roy was 14 years old, and soon Clark was playing banjo, guitar, and mandolin.[7] "Guitar was my real love, though," Clark later said. "I never copied anyone, but I was certainly influenced by them; especially by George Barnes. I just loved his swing style and tone."[9]
Clark also found inspiration in other local D.C. musicians. "One of the things that influenced me growing up around Washington, D.C., in the '50s was that it had an awful lot of good musicians. And I used to go in and just steal them blind. I stole all their licks. It wasn't until years later that I found out that a lot of them used to cringe and say 'Oh, no! Here comes that kid again'[8] when I'd come in. As for his banjo style, Clark said in 1985, "When I started playing, you didn't have many choices to follow, and Earl Scruggs was both of them."[8] Clark won the National Banjo Championship in 1947 and 1948,[9] and briefly toured with a band when he was 15.[9]
Clark was very shy, and turned to humor as a way of easing his timidity. Country-western music was widely derided by Clark's schoolmates, leaving him socially isolated. Clowning around, he felt, helped him to fit in again. Clark used humor as a musician as well, and it was not until the mid 1960s that he felt confident enough to perform in public without using humor in his act.[8]
The D.C. area had a number of country-western music venues at the time. Duet acts were in favor, and for his public performance debut Clark teamed up with Carl Lukat. Lukat was the lead guitarist, and Clark supported him on rhythm guitar.[8] In 1949, at the age of 16, Clark made his television debut on WTTG, the DuMont Television Network affiliate in Washington, D.C.[5] At 17, he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry[7] in recognition for winning his second national banjo title.[9] By this time, he had begun to play fiddle and twelve-string guitar.[10] He toured the country for the next 18 months playing backup guitar during the week for David "Stringbean" Akeman, Annie Lou and Danny, Lonzo and Oscar, and Hal and Velma Smith, working county fairs and small town theaters. On weekends, these acts usually teamed up with country music superstars like Red Foley or Ernest Tubb and played large venues in big cities. He earned $150 a week ($1,900 in 2023 dollars).[8] After the tour, Clark returned to performing at local country-music venues. He recorded singles for Coral Records and 4 Star Records.[8]
At the age of 23, Clark obtained his pilot's certificate and then bought a 1953 Piper Tri-Pacer (N1132C), which he flew for many years. This plane was raffled off on December 17, 2012, to benefit the charity Wings of Hope.[11] He owned other planes, including a Mitsubishi MU-2, Stearman PT-17[12] and Mitsubishi MU-300 Diamond 1A business jet.[13]
Personal life[edit]
Clark married Ruby Conley in 1954. They had a son, Roy Linwood Clark Jr. The couple divorced in 1957. Roy married Barbara Joyce Rupard on August 31, 1957. They remained wed until Roy's passing in 2018 [4] The couple had five children.[3] They made their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the Roy Clark Elementary School was named in his honor in 1978.[8][27]
Clark died on November 15, 2018, at age 85, at his Tulsa home from complications of pneumonia.[3][28]
Honors[edit]
By the early 1970s, Clark had been named "Entertainer of the Year" three times by the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association (CMA). The Academy also named him "Best Lead Guitar Player" and "Best Comedy Act", while the CMA named him an "International Friendship Ambassador" in 1976 after Clark toured the Soviet Union.[8]
On August 22, 1987, Clark was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry.[29][30] He played an annual benefit concert at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, the proceeds of which went to fund scholarships for aspiring musicians.[31]
Clark was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.[3] On April 12, 2011, Clark was honored by the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He was honored by the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame as Oklahoma's Music Ambassador for Children and presented with a commendation from Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin.[32] In 2007, he was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame.[33] He was inducted into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame.[23]
Roy Clark was one of the founding inductees into the Virginia Musical Museum & Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Wayne Newton, Ella Fitzgerald, The Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Bruce Hornsby, Pearl Bailey and Ralph Stanley were the other founding inductees.