Del Shannon

Rock & Roll musician, singer and songwriter, born on December 30, 1934 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, died on February 8, 1990 in his home in Santa Clarita, California.

His biggest Hit in 1961 "Runaway" was co-written by keyboard player Max Crook. The track is considered to be a legend using Shannon's voice that was paired with one of Crook's inventions the "Musitron" (a heavily modified Clavioline) which was an electric keyboard that pre-dated the Moog synthesizer by about three years. Similar to the sound of a Italian Farfisa keyboard sound, the "Musitron" created one of rock's most memorable instrumental breaks. He became is known as a world-wide singer, guitarist and songwriter during the 1960's. During the 1980's he turned to Country & Western and also worked with [a=Tom Petty] and [a=Jeff Lynne].

Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.