Gene Clark
Encyclopedia
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991) was an American singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

.

Gene Clark is best remembered for being The Byrds' main songwriter between 1964 and early 1966. He created a large catalogue of music in several genres but failed to achieve solo commercial success. Clark was one of the earliest exponents of psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

, baroque pop
Baroque pop
Baroque pop, Baroque rock, or English baroque, often used interchangeably with chamber pop/rock, is a pop and rock music subgenre which originated in the mid-1960s in the United Kingdom and United States...

, newgrass, country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 and alternative country
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...

.

Early life

Clark was born in Tipton, Missouri
Tipton, Missouri
Tipton is a city in Moniteau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,261 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Tipton is located at ....

, the third of thirteen children. He began learning the guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitar
A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...

 from his father at age nine and was soon playing Hank Williams tunes as well as material by early rockers such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 and the Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...

. Before long he was writing his own songs and, at 13, joined a local rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 combo, Joe Meyers and the Sharks. Like many of his generation, Clark developed an interest in folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 because of the popularity of the Kingston Trio. Clark graduated from Bonner Springs High School in Bonner Springs, Kansas in 1962.

Formation of The Byrds

He began performing with several folk groups working out of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 at the Castaways Lounge, owned by Hal Harbaum, where he was discovered by The New Christy Minstrels, in August 1963, who hired him for their ensemble and with whom he remained for six months. After hearing the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, Clark quit the Christys and moved to Los Angeles where he met fellow folkie/Beatles convert Jim (later Roger) McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

 at the Troubadour Club and in early 1964 they began to assemble a band that would become The Byrds.

Gene Clark wrote or co-wrote many of The Byrds' best-known originals, including: "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "Set You Free This Time
Set You Free This Time
"Set You Free This Time" is a song by the American folk rock band The Byrds, written by band member Gene Clark and first released in December 1965 on the group's Turn! Turn! Turn! album. According to Clark, the song was written in just a few hours during The Byrds' 1965 British tour, after a night...

", "Here Without You", "If You're Gone", "The World Turns All Around Her", "She Don't Care About Time" and "Eight Miles High
Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...

". He played harmonica for the band, too (notably on "Set You Free This Time"). Bassist Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

 noted years later in various interviews remembering Gene: "People don't give enough credit to Gene Clark. He came up with the most incredible lyrics. I don't think I appreciated Gene Clark as a songwriter until the last two years. He was awesome! He was heads above us! Roger wrote some great songs then, but Gene was coming up with lyrics that were way beyond what he was. He wasn't a well-read man in that sense, but he would come up with these beautiful phrases. A very poetic man--very, very productive. He would write two or three great songs a week". "He was the songwriter. He had the "gift" that none of the rest of us had developed yet.... What deep inner part of his soul conjured up songs like "Set You Free This Time," "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better," "I'm Feelin' Higher," "Eight Miles High"? So many great songs! We learned a lot of songwriting from him and in the process learned a little bit about ourselves. At one time, he was the power in the Byrds, not McGuinn, not Crosby—it was Gene who would burst through the stage curtain banging on a tambourine, coming on like a young Prince Valiant. A hero, our savior. Few in the audience could take their eyes off this presence."

A management decision delivered the lead vocal duties to McGuinn for their major singles and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 covers. This disappointment, combined with Clark's dislike of traveling (including a chronic fear of flying
Fear of flying
A fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane , or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia....

) and resentment by other band members about the extra income he derived from his songwriting, led to internal squabbling and he left the group in early 1966. He briefly returned to Kansas City before moving back to Los Angeles to form Gene Clark & the Group with Chip Douglas
Chip Douglas
Douglas Farthing Walter Hatlelid, better known as Chip Douglas, is a songwriter, musician , and record producer, whose most famous work was during the 1960s...

, Joel Larson
Joel Larson
Joel Larson is a rock drummer and percussionist from California. He was born on April 29, 1947 at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco. He lived near Lincoln Park until he was 12 years old. He took up drumming at the age of 12 and moved near Avalon Park until he was 17. During these five years he...

, and Bill Rhinehart.

Solo career and rejoining The Byrds

Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, (The Byrds' record label), signed Clark as a solo artist and, in 1967, he released his first solo LP, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers is the debut solo album of Gene Clark, released in February of 1967 on Columbia Records, catalogue CS 9418. It was his first effort after his departure from folk-rock group the Byrds in 1966...

, a mixture of pop, country rock and baroque-psychedelic tracks—Chris Hillman had worked with the Gosdin Brothers in the mid 1960s when he and they were members of the Southern California bluegrass band called The Hillmen
The Hillmen
The Hillmen were a southern Californian bluegrass group. Formed in 1962, the original line-up of the Golden State Boys consisted of Vern Gosdin on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Rex Gosdin on double bass, Hal Poindexter on guitar, and Don Parmley on banjo...

. The record received favorable reviews but unfortunately for Clark, it was released almost simultaneously with the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in February 1967 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous LP...

, also on Columbia, and (partly due to his 18 month-long public absence) was a commercial failure.

With the future of his solo career in doubt, Clark briefly rejoined The Byrds in October 1967, as a replacement for the recently departed David Crosby, but left after only three weeks, following an anxiety attack in Minneapolis. During this brief period with The Byrds, he appeared with the band on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, miming to the group's current single "Goin' Back
Goin' Back
"Goin' Back" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1966. It describes the loss of innocence that comes with adulthood along with an attempt, on the part of the singer, to recapture that youthful innocence...

", as well as to "Mr. Spaceman
Mr. Spaceman
"Mr. Spaceman" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds and was the third track on their 1966 album Fifth Dimension. The song was initially written by band member Jim McGuinn as a "melodramatic screenplay" but it soon evolved into a whimsical meditation on the existence of extraterrestrial...

". Although there is some disagreement among the band's biographers, Clark is generally viewed as having contributed background vocals to the songs "Goin' Back" and "Space Odyssey" from the then forthcoming Byrds' album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records . Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock, psychedelic rock,...

, as well as being an uncredited co-author, with Roger McGuinn, of "Get to You" from that album.

In 1968, Clark signed with A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...

 and began a collaboration with Laramy Smith under the name Phoenix, a group whose members also included Aaron Vandervort on bass and Wayne Bruns on drums. They recorded a number of songs, including "Los Angeles", but these found no release at the time. The group disbanded in 1969 when Smith and Clark could not agree on a common style. Following the breakup, Clark formed Dillard & Clark
Dillard & Clark
Dillard & Clark was a country rock duo which featured ex-Byrds member Gene Clark and bluegrass banjo player Doug Dillard. The group was formed in 1968, shortly after Clark departed The Byrds, and Dillard left The Dillards. They were backed up by, among others, Bernie Leadon, Chris Hillman, Sneaky...

 with banjo player Doug Dillard
The Dillards
The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...

. With guitarist Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Mathew "Bernie" Leadon, III is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers...

 (later with The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers was an early country rock band, best known for its influential debut album,The Gilded Palace of Sin . Although the group is most often mentioned in connection with country rock legends Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, the group underwent many personnel changes.-Original...

 and the Eagles), they produced two country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

 and bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

-flavored albums: The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark
The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark
The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark is a country rock album by Dillard & Clark. The album was recorded in 1968, shortly after Clark departed The Byrds for the second time, and Dillard left The Dillards...

and Through the Morning Through the Night. Both of these fared poorly on the charts; however, the non-album single "Lyin' Down the Middle" reached number three in California country stations. Through the Morning, Through the Night was more bluegrass in character than its predecessor, used electric instrumentation and included Donna Washburn (Dillard's girlfriend) as a backing vocalist, all of which contributed to the departure of Leadon. The loss of Leadon as a co-writer meant that the album featured more covers than originals, and the change of musical direction caused Clark to lose faith in the group, which disbanded in late 1969. Today, Dillard & Clark are viewed as pioneers of country rock.

In 1970, Clark began work on a new single, recording two tracks with the original members of the Byrds (each recording his part separately). The resulting songs, "She's the Kind of Girl" and "One in a Hundred", were not released at the time due to legal problems and were included later on Roadmaster
Roadmaster (album)
Roadmaster is a country rock album by Gene Clark from 1973. The album was compiled from various unreleased recordings for A&M Records made in 1970 through 1972, eight tracks yielded from an April 1972 recording session featuring Clarence White, Spooner Oldham, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Byron Berline and...

. Frustrated with the music industry, Clark bought a home at Albion
Albion, California
Albion is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California. It is located south of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 174 feet . Albion had a population of 168 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...

 near Mendocino
Mendocino, California
Mendocino is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. Mendocino is located south of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 154 feet...

, married, and fathered two children while living off his still substantial Byrds royalties.

In 1970 and 1971, Clark contributed vocals and two compositions ("Tried So Hard" and "Here Tonight") to albums by the Flying Burrito Brothers.

White Light

It wasn't until 1971 that a further Gene Clark solo set finally emerged. The album was titled White Light
White Light (Gene Clark album)
White Light, aka Gene Clark, is the second solo album by Gene Clark, former member of The Byrds. It received universal critical acclaim upon its release, but only achieved commercial success in the Netherlands, where rock critics also voted it album of the year...

on the actual record, although the fact that the name was not included on the cover sleeve led some later reviewers to assume mistakenly that it was titled 'Gene Clark'. The record was produced by the much sought after Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 guitarist Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Edwin Davis was an American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist. His death in 1988 is attributed to a drug overdose.-Biography:...

 with whom Clark developed great rapport, partly due to their common Indian ancestry. A largely acoustic work supplemented by slide guitar work by Davis, the album contained many introspective tracks such as "With Tomorrow", "Because of You", "Where My Love Lies Asleep" and "For a Spanish Guitar" (supposedly hailed by Bob Dylan as a song he would have been proud to compose). All of the material was written by Clark, with the exception of the Dylan and Richard Manuel
Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....

 penned number "Tears of Rage
Tears of Rage
"Tears of Rage" is a song written by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel, the former writing the lyrics and the melody being provided by the latter.-Initial recordings:...

". Launched to considerable critical acclaim, the LP failed to gain commercial success, except in the Netherlands where it was also voted album of the year by rock music critics. Once more, Clark's refusal to undertake promotional touring adversely affected sales.

In the spring of 1971, Clark was commissioned by Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

 to contribute the tracks "American Dreamer" and "Outlaw Song" to Hopper's film project American Dreamer.

A re-recorded, longer version of the song "American Dreamer" was later used in the 1977 film The Farmer, along with an instrumental version of the same song plus "Outside the Law (The Outlaw)" (a re-recording of "Outlaw Song").

In 1972, Clark assembled a backing group consisting of highly accomplished country rock musicians to accompany him on a further album with A&M. Progress was slow and expensive and the project was terminated before completion by A&M. The resulting eight tracks, together with those recorded with The Byrds in 1970/71 and another with The Flying Burrito Brothers ("Here Tonight"), were belatedly released as Roadmaster
Roadmaster (album)
Roadmaster is a country rock album by Gene Clark from 1973. The album was compiled from various unreleased recordings for A&M Records made in 1970 through 1972, eight tracks yielded from an April 1972 recording session featuring Clarence White, Spooner Oldham, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Byron Berline and...

in the Netherlands only.

In 1972, the Dillard & Clark song "Through The Morning Through The Night" was used in Quincy Jones's soundtrack of the Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...

 movie The Getaway
The Getaway (1972 film)
The Getaway is a 1972 American action-crime film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.The film is based on a novel by Jim Thompson, with the screenplay written by Walter Hill...

. This song, along with "Polly" (both from the second Dillard and Clark album), was also recently covered by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on their album "Raising Sand".

Byrds

Clark then left A&M to join the reunion of the original five Byrds and cut the album Byrds
Byrds (album)
Byrds is the twelfth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in March 1973 on Asylum Records . It was recorded as the centerpiece of a reunion between the five original members of The Byrds: Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke...

(released in 1973) which charted well (US # 20). Clark's compositions "Full Circle
Full Circle Song
"Full Circle Song" is a song written by Gene Clark in 1972 that utilizes an allegorical wheel of fortune motif to comment on the unpredictable nature of fame and fortune. The song originally appeared in January 1973 on Clark's Roadmaster album, which was initially released exclusively in Holland...

" and "Changing Heart" plus the Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

 covers on which he did the lead vocal work ("See the Sky About to Rain" and "Cowgirl in the Sand") were widely regarded as the standout tracks on a record which received some negative critical response. Disheartened by the bad reviews and unhappy with David Crosby's performance as the record's producer, the group members chose to dissolve The Byrds. Clark briefly joined McGuinn's solo group, with which he premiered "Silver Raven", arguably his most celebrated post-Byrds song.

No Other

On the basis of the quality of Clark's Byrds contributions, David Geffen
David Geffen
David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...

 signed him to Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...

 in early 1974. Asylum was the home of the most prominent exponents of the singer-songwriter movement of the era and carried the kind of hip cachet that Clark hadn't experienced since his days with The Byrds. He retired to Mendocino and spent long periods at the picture window of his friend (and future co-writer and drummer) Andy Kandanes' cliff-top home with a notebook and acoustic guitar in hand, staring at the Pacific Ocean. Deeply affected by his visions, he composed numerous songs which would serve as the basis for his only Asylum LP, the aptly titled No Other
No Other
No Other is the fourth solo studio album by Gene Clark. On release in late 1974 it was a critical and commercial failure; the studio time and cost being seen as excessive and indulgent. The record label, Asylum Records, did not promote the album, and by 1976 had deleted it from their catalog...

. Produced by Thomas Jefferson Kaye
Thomas Jefferson Kaye
Thomas Jefferson Kaye was an American record producer, singer-songwriter and musician...

 with a vast array of session musicians and backing singers, the album was an amalgam of country rock, folk, gospel, soul and choral music with poetic, mystical lyrics. The fact that No Other wasn't a conventional pop/rock opus meant that its chances of success were greatly minimised by Clark's relative obscurity. Furthermore, its production costs of $100,000 which yielded only eight tracks prompted Geffen to berate Clark and Kaye. The album then stalled in the charts at #144. On a more personal note, the singer's return to Los Angeles and his reversion to a hedonistic lifestyle resulted in the disintegration of his marriage. In spite of these setbacks, he mounted his first solo tour (by road), playing colleges and clubs with backing group, the Silverados.

Two Sides to Every Story

Throughout 1975 and 1976, Clark hinted to the press that he was assembling a set of "cosmic Motown" songs fusing country-rock with R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, elaborating on the soundscapes of No Other
No Other
No Other is the fourth solo studio album by Gene Clark. On release in late 1974 it was a critical and commercial failure; the studio time and cost being seen as excessive and indulgent. The record label, Asylum Records, did not promote the album, and by 1976 had deleted it from their catalog...

. A set of ten demos were submitted to RSO Records
RSO Records
RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in 1973. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair...

, who promptly bought out Clark's contract.

In 1977, Clark released his RSO Records debut entitled Two Sides to Every Story
Two Sides to Every Story
Two Sides to Every Story is a 1977 album by American singer-songwriter Gene Clark. The album was Clark's first release since his 1974 album No Other...

. Once again produced by Thomas Jefferson Kaye but with a much more understated hand, the record was another characteristic offering of his style of sensitive country-rock balladry but failed to achieve US chart success. In a belated attempt to find an appreciative public, he temporarily overcame his fear of flying and launched an international promotional tour.

McGuinn, Clark and Hillman

For his British tour dates, Clark found himself on the same bill as ex-Byrds Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

 and Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

. The three signed with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 which released their self-titled debut in 1979. McGuinn, Clark and Hillman was a rebirth in both performing and songwriting for Clark. McGuinn's "Don't You Write Her Off" reached #33 in April 1979. Many felt that the album's slick production and disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 rhythms didn't flatter the group, and the album had mixed success both critically and commercially, but it sold enough to generate a follow up. McGuinn, Clark and Hillman's second release was to have been a full group effort entitled City, but a combination of Clark's unreliability and his dissatisfaction with their musical direction (mostly regarding Ron and Howard Albert's production) resulted in the billing change on City to "Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, featuring Gene Clark". Despite the turmoil, Clark penned a classic love song, "Won't Let You Down", rumoured to have been offered as an olive branch to the other former Byrds. By 1981, Clark had left, and the group recorded one more album as "McGuinn/Hillman".

Rehabilitation, Firebyrd, and So Rebellious a Lover

Clark moved to Hawaii with Jesse Ed Davis to try to overcome his drug dependency, remaining there until the end of 1981. Upon his return to L.A., he assembled a new band and proceeded to record what would eventually become the album Firebyrd (the title acknowledges the Byrds and Firefall origins of some members). While waiting for Firebyrd to be released, Clark joined up with Chris Hillman and others in an abortive venture called Flyte which failed to secure a recording contract and was quickly dissolved. Firebyrd's eventual release in 1984 coincided with the emergence of jangle rockers like R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

 and Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...

 who had sparked a new interest in the Byrds. Clark began developing new fans among L.A.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

's roots-conscious Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground is an early genre of alternative rock, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s.- History :...

 scene. Later in the decade, he embraced his new status by appearing as a guest with The Long Ryders
The Long Ryders
The Long Ryders are an American alternative country and Paisley Underground band, principally active between 1983 and 1987, and which reformed in 2004 to do a reunion tour...

 and by cutting an acclaimed duo album with Carla Olson of the Textones titled So Rebellious a Lover in 1986.

Later career, illness and death

So Rebellious a Lover became a modest commercial success, but Clark began to develop serious health problems; he had ulcers, aggravated by years of heavy drinking (often used to alleviate his chronic travel anxiety). In 1988, he underwent surgery, during which much of his stomach and intestines had to be removed.

A period of abstinence and recovery followed until Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...

's cover of "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" on his 1989 album Full Moon Fever
Full Moon Fever
Full Moon Fever is the first solo album by Tom Petty, though it features contributions from several members of his backing band, the Heartbreakers, along with fellow members of the Traveling Wilburys. The record shows Petty exploring his musical roots with nods to his influences...

yielded a huge amount of royalty money to Clark who quickly reverted to drug and alcohol abuse. The Byrds set aside their differences long enough to appear together at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in January 1991, where the original lineup performed several songs together, including Clark's "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better".

However, Clark's health continued to decline as his drinking accelerated. He died of a heart attack on May 24, 1991 at age 46. He was buried in Tipton under a simple headstone inscribed "Harold Eugene Clark - No Other."

Studio Albums

  • Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
    Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
    Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers is the debut solo album of Gene Clark, released in February of 1967 on Columbia Records, catalogue CS 9418. It was his first effort after his departure from folk-rock group the Byrds in 1966...

    (1967)
  • The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark
    The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark
    The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark is a country rock album by Dillard & Clark. The album was recorded in 1968, shortly after Clark departed The Byrds for the second time, and Dillard left The Dillards...

    (1968) – with Doug Dillard
  • Through the Morning, Through the Night (1969) – with Doug Dillard
  • White Light
    White Light (Gene Clark album)
    White Light, aka Gene Clark, is the second solo album by Gene Clark, former member of The Byrds. It received universal critical acclaim upon its release, but only achieved commercial success in the Netherlands, where rock critics also voted it album of the year...

    a.k.a. Gene Clark (1971)
  • Roadmaster
    Roadmaster (album)
    Roadmaster is a country rock album by Gene Clark from 1973. The album was compiled from various unreleased recordings for A&M Records made in 1970 through 1972, eight tracks yielded from an April 1972 recording session featuring Clarence White, Spooner Oldham, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Byron Berline and...

    (1973)
  • No Other
    No Other
    No Other is the fourth solo studio album by Gene Clark. On release in late 1974 it was a critical and commercial failure; the studio time and cost being seen as excessive and indulgent. The record label, Asylum Records, did not promote the album, and by 1976 had deleted it from their catalog...

    (1974)
  • Two Sides to Every Story
    Two Sides to Every Story
    Two Sides to Every Story is a 1977 album by American singer-songwriter Gene Clark. The album was Clark's first release since his 1974 album No Other...

    (1977)
  • McGuinn, Clark & Hillman (1979) – with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
  • City (1980) – with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
  • Firebyrd (1984)
  • So Rebellious a Lover (1987) – with Carla Olson

Live albums

  • Silhouetted in Light (1992) – with Carla Olson
  • In Concert (2007) – with Carla Olson
  • Silverado '75: Live & Unreleased (2008)

Compilations

  • Echoes (1991) – collection of early material recorded with The Byrds and the Gosdin Brothers
  • American Dreamer 1964–1974 (1993) – best of
  • Flying High (1998) – anthology
  • Gypsy Angel (2001) – collection of previously unreleased material
  • Under the Silvery Moon (2003) – collection of previously unreleased material
  • Set You Free: Gene Clark in The Byrds 1964–1973 (2004) – collection of material recorded with The Byrds

Covered songs

During his career and subsequent to his death, Gene Clark's songs have been covered by a number of artists. Ian Matthews
Iain Matthews
Iain Matthews is an English musician and songwriter. He was born Iain Matthew McDonald, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was known in the 1960s first as Ian McDonald, then as the 1960s progressed, as Ian Matthews...

 was an early promoter of Clark's songs, covering "Polly" on Matthews' 1972 Journeys from Gospel Oak
Journeys from Gospel Oak
Journeys from Gospel Oak is the 1972 album by Country rock/Folk rock musician Ian Matthews.-Track listing:#"Knowing the Game" #"Polly" #"Things You Gave Me" Journeys from Gospel Oak is the 1972 album by Country rock/Folk rock musician Ian Matthews.-Track listing:#"Knowing the Game" (Ian...

album, and "Tried So Hard" on his 1974 Some Days You Eat The Bear
Some Days You Eat the Bear
Some Days You Eat The Bear is the 1974 album by country rock/folk rock musician Ian Matthews.-Track listing:#"Ol' '55" #"I Don't Wanna talk About It" #"A Wailing Goodbye" #"Keep On Sailing"...

album. Death In Vegas
Death in Vegas
Death in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...

 and Paul Weller covered his song "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" on their 2003 album Scorpio Rising
Scorpio Rising (Death in Vegas album)
-Singles:* "Leather"/"Girls" and "XXX" * "Hands Around My Throat" * "Scorpio Rising"...

. In 2007, two of his songs were recorded by Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...

 and Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

 on the T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...

 produced Raising Sand
Raising Sand
Raising Sand is a collaboration album by rock singer Robert Plant and bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. It was released on October 23, 2007 by Rounder Records...

: "Polly Come Home" and "Through the Morning, Through the Night." Also in 2007, Chris and Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson
Rich Robinson is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 while the two were in high school...

 released a live version of "Polly" on their Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy
Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy
Brothers Of A Feather: Live At The Roxy is a live album by Chris and Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes. It was released on July 10, 2007, and was later followed by a DVD release with extra tracks in September, 2007. The album features two new songs, some old Black Crowes songs, as well as some covers...

 album. This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil
This Mortal Coil was a gothic dream pop supergroup led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were technically the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of supporting artists, many of whom...

 covered "Strength of Strings" from his LP No Other and "With Tomorrow" from LP White Light. Soulsavers
Soulsavers
Soulsavers are an English production and remix team composed of Rich Machin and Ian Glover. The Soulsavers' downtempo electronica sound incorporates influences of rock, gospel, soul, and country...

 with Mark Lanegan
Mark Lanegan
Mark Lanegan is an American rock musician and songwriter. Lanegan began his music career in the 1980s, forming the grunge group Screaming Trees with Gary Lee Conner, Van Conner and Mark Pickerel. During his time in the band Lanegan would start a low-key solo career...

 recorded a version of "Some Misunderstanding" from No Other on their 2009 release Broken
Broken (Soulsavers album)
Broken is the third full-length studio album from electronica production duo Soulsavers, released by V2 Records in the UK on August 17, 2009, and released by Columbia Records in the US in September as a digital download...

. Title Tracks
Title Tracks
Title Tracks is the indie pop/rock solo project from Washington D.C.-based musician John Davis .In early 2008, although still a member of the band Georgie James, Davis began writing the songs that would form the basis for his first solo record...

 recorded a version of "She Don't Care About Time" on its 2010 release, It Was Easy
It Was Easy (album)
It Was Easy is the debut album by the Washington, D.C. band Title Tracks, released on February 23, 2010. It was recorded in January 2009 at Brookland Studios, Silver Sonya Studios and The National Crayon Museum...

. The song has also been covered by Sex Clark Five
Sex Clark Five
Sex Clark Five is an underground indie rock band formed in the early 1980s in Huntsville, Alabama. Calling their inventive, sawed-off power pop songs "strum and drum" , SC5 released several albums that featured the jangly Rickenbacker guitar sound characteristic of Southern college rock bands of...

 and Flamin' Groovies. The song "Gorgeous" from Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is based on elements of the Clark/McGuinn song "You Showed Me
You Showed Me
"You Showed Me" is a song written by Jim McGuinn and Gene Clark of The Byrds in 1964. It was recorded by The Turtles and released as a single in 1969, becoming the group's last big hit in the U.S. The song has also been covered by a number of other bands and artists over the years, including The...

".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK