Del Shannon

Rock & Roll musician, singer and songwriter. Del Shannon was born Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, on December 30, 1934. His biggest Hit in 1961 "Runaway" was co-written by Del Shannon & his 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 Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.
Shannon passed away on February 8, 1990 in his home in Santa Clarita, California and was later inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.