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Roy Linwood Clark (born April 15, 1933, Meherrin, Virginia
Meherrin, Virginia

Meherrin is a small unincorporated area in Lunenburg County, Virginia and Prince Edward County, Virginia counties in the U.S. state of Virginia....
, United States) is a versatile and well-known country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
 and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw
Hee Haw

Hee Haw was a television variety show, initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop....
, one of the first nationally televised country variety shows in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, from 1969–1992.

Clark has been an iconic figure in country music, both as a musician and as a popularizer of country music. Clark is an entertainer, most of all, with an amiable personality and a telegenic presence.

During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson

John William ?Johnny? Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years....
 on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show is a long-running American late-night talk show and variety show airing on NBC whose The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has been hosted by Jay Leno since 1992....
 and enjoyed a 30,000,000 viewership for "Hee Haw".






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Encyclopedia


Roy Linwood Clark (born April 15, 1933, Meherrin, Virginia
Meherrin, Virginia

Meherrin is a small unincorporated area in Lunenburg County, Virginia and Prince Edward County, Virginia counties in the U.S. state of Virginia....
, United States) is a versatile and well-known country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 musician
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
 and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw
Hee Haw

Hee Haw was a television variety show, initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop....
, one of the first nationally televised country variety shows in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, from 1969–1992.

Clark has been an iconic figure in country music, both as a musician and as a popularizer of country music. Clark is an entertainer, most of all, with an amiable personality and a telegenic presence.

During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson

John William ?Johnny? Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years....
 on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show is a long-running American late-night talk show and variety show airing on NBC whose The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has been hosted by Jay Leno since 1992....
 and enjoyed a 30,000,000 viewership for "Hee Haw". Clark is highly regarded as both a guitarist and banjo player. He is also skilled in Classical guitar
Classical guitar

The classical guitar, also known as the "Spanish guitar", and in more recent times as the "nylon string guitar" ? is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones....
 as well as playing several other instruments. While he has had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g. "Yesterday, When I was Young" and "Thank God and Greyhound"), his instrumental skill has had an enormous effect on succeeding generations of both bluegrass
Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and is a sub-genre of country music. It has its own roots in Folk music of Ireland, Music of Scotland, Music of Wales and Folk Music of England traditional music....
 and country musicians.

Career

Born in southside Virginia, Clark grew up as a teenager in southeast Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
 where his father worked at the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard

The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and Weapon plant of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S....
. At the age of 14, Clark began playing banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
, guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
, and mandolin
Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the Mandora, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille lik...
, and he won two National Banjo Championships by the age of 17. He was simultaneously pursuing a sporting career, first as a baseball
Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score run by hitting a thrown Baseball with a baseball bat and touching a series of four markers called base arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team take turns hitting against...
 player, and then as a boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
, before switching over to music full time. At the age of 17, he had his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music radio programming and concert broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee, every Friday and Saturday night, as well as Tuesdays from March through December....
.

By 1955, he was a regular on Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean is an United States country music singer, television Host , actor, and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the founder of the Jimmy Dean , he first rose to fame for his country crossover hits like "Big Bad John," and for his television appearances....
's Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
 television program. Dean, who valued punctuality among musicians in his band, the Texas Wildcats, fired Clark for habitual lateness, telling him "you're the most talented person I've ever fired." In 1960, Clark went out to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, Nevada, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment....
 where he worked as guitarist in a band led by former West Coast Western Swing bandleader-comedian Hank Penny
Hank Penny

Herbert Clayton Penny was an accomplished banjo player and practitioner of western swing. He worked as a comedian best known for his backwoods character "That Plain Ol' Country Boy" on TV with Spade Cooley....
. During the very early 1960s, he was also prominent in the backing band for Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson

Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American rockabilly and country music singer who had success in the mid-50s and the 60s. She resides in Oklahoma City, OK....
 during the latter part of her rockabilly
Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a Portmanteau word of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development....
 period.

When Dean was tapped to host The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show is a long-running American late-night talk show and variety show airing on NBC whose The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has been hosted by Jay Leno since 1992....
 in the early 1960's, he asked Clark to appear, introducing him to a national audience for the first time. Subsequently, Clark appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies

The Beverly Hillbillies is an United States television series about a hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California after finding oil on their land....
 as a recurring character (actually two, he played businessman Roy Halsey and Roy's mother, Myrtle). Once, on an episode of the Sunday evening Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason

Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr. , whose birth name was John Herbert "Jackie" Gleason, was an American comedian, actor and musician.He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy styling, especially as delivered by his character Ralph Kramden on the sitcom The Honeymooners....
 Show dedicated to country music, Clark played a blistering rendition of "Down Home". Later, he even appeared on an episode of The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)

The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on American Broadcasting Company. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison....
 where he played "Malagueña".

In 1963, Clark signed to Capitol Records
Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI and located in Hollywood, California and New York City as part of Capitol Music Group....
 and had three top 10 hits. He switched to Dot Records
Dot Records

Dot Records was an United States record label and company that was active between 1950 in music and 1977 in music. It was founded by Randy Wood ....
 and again scored hits. He later recorded for ABC Records
ABC Records

ABC Records started in 1955 in music as ABC-Paramount Records, the record label of Am-Par Record Corporation , formed in New York City in 1955. In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent record producer and purchased regionally- released records for national distribution....
, which had acquired Dot, and MCA Records
MCA Records

MCA Records was an United States-based record label owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part....
, which absorbed the ABC label.

In 1969, Clark and Buck Owens
Buck Owens

Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr., was an United States singer and guitarist, who had 21 number-one hits on the Billboard magazine country music charts, with his legendary band, the Buckaroos....
 were the hosts of Hee Haw. The show was dropped by CBS Television in 1971 but continued to run in syndication for twenty more years. During its tenure, Clark was a member of the Million Dollar Band
Million Dollar Band (country music group)

Million Dollar Band was an all-star country music group which often performed on the Hee Haw television variety show between August 1980 through November 1988....
.

In 1983, Clark opened the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre in Branson, Missouri
Branson, Missouri

Branson is a city in Stone County, Missouri and Taney County, Missouri counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named for Rueben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....
, becoming the first country music star to have his own venue there, and beginning a trend which led to Branson becoming a center of live music performance, as it is today. Many of the celebrities who have played in Branson first entertained at the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre. Clark frequently played in Branson during the 1980s and 1990s. He has since sold the venue (now owned by the Hughes Brothers and renamed the "Hughes American Family Theatre") and gone back to a fairly light touring schedule which usually includes a performance with Ramona Jones and the Jones Family Band at their annual tribute to Clark's old "Hee Haw" co-star Grandpa Jones
Grandpa Jones

Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones was an United States banjo player and "old time" country music and gospel music singer....
 in Mountain View, Arkansas
Mountain View, Arkansas

Mountain View is the largest city in and the county seat of Stone County, Arkansas in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 2,998....
.

In addition to his musical skill, Clark has often displayed his talents as a comedian and actor. During his years on the variety show Hee Haw, Clark entertained with numerous comedy sketches, including a recurring feature where he played the clerk of the "Empty Arms Hotel". Clark released several albums of his comedic performances, to varying critical acclaim and commercial success.

Clark has endorsed Mosrite
Mosrite

HistoryMosrite is an United States guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s....
, Gretsch
Gretsch

Gretsch is a United States musical instrument manufacturer currently being distributed by guitar company Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and drum craft company Kaman Music....
, and many other brands of guitar during his career. He currently endorses Heritage Guitars
Heritage Guitars

Heritage Guitars is a guitar manufacturer in Kalamazoo, Michigan....
, which makes a Roy Clark model.

On 22 August 1987, Clark was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music radio programming and concert broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee, every Friday and Saturday night, as well as Tuesdays from March through December....
.

Clark plays an annual benefit concert at Longwood University
Longwood University

Longwood University is a four-year public, Liberal arts college university located in Farmville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839, and became a university on July 1, 2002....
 in Farmville, Virginia
Farmville, Virginia

Farmville is a town in Cumberland County, Virginia and Prince Edward County, Virginia counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 6,845 at the United States Census 2000....
, the proceeds of which go to fund scholarships for aspiring musicians.

For many years Clark has made his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population in the United States. With an estimated population of 384,037 in 2007, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 905,755 residents projected to reach one million between 2010 and 2012....
. Roy Clark Elementary School
Elementary school

An elementary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as Primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in many countries, especially in North America....
 in Tulsa's Union School District was named in his honor in 1978.

On February 4, 2009, it was announced that Roy Clark will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer. She is best-known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country music's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s....
 and Charlie McCoy
Charlie McCoy

Charles Ray McCoy is an United States musician noted for his harmonica playing, although he plays other instruments as well. In his career, McCoy has backed several notable musicians including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley....
.

Film roles


  • Country Comes Home (1982)


  • Uphill All the Way
    Uphill All the Way

    Uphill All The Way is a 1986 motion picture starring Roy Clark, Mel Tillis, Glen Campbell, Burl Ives and Trish Van Devere....
     (1986)


  • Freeway (1988)


Television and film


He has appeared as himself in numerous television programs:
  • Five episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies
    The Beverly Hillbillies

    The Beverly Hillbillies is an United States television series about a hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California after finding oil on their land....
     as "Cousin Roy" (1969)
  • Swing Out, Sweet Land (1970)
  • The Bell Telephone Jubilee (1976)
  • The Captain & Tennille Special (1976)
  • Fair Weather Friends (1977)
  • Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue
    Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue

    Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue was a 60-minute live-action and animated television special produced by Hanna-Barbera in association with deFaria Productions which aired on CBS in December 1977....
     (1977)
  • The Muppet Show
    The Muppet Show

    The Muppet Show is a television program featuring a cast of The Muppets, which was produced by Jim Henson and his team from Sesame Street....
     (1978)
  • EPCOT Center
    Epcot

    Epcot is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The park is dedicated to international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was named EPCOT Center until 1994....
     opening celebration (1982)
  • Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Celebration (1985)
  • 6th Annual National Songwriter Awards (1986)
  • The Grand Ole Opry 65th Anniversary (1991)
  • Gordy
    Gordy

    Gordy is a 1995 feature film about a piglet who searches for his missing family . The piglet, named Gordy, experiences the lives of others which are part of the film's side plots, including travelling country music singers Luke McAllister and his daughter Jinnie Sue; and lonely boy Hanky Royce whose mother is engaged to a sinister busines...
     (1995)
  • The Grand Ole Opry 70th Anniversary (1996)
  • A Bing Crosby Christmas (1998)


He has also been mentioned in TV shows:
  • Squidbillies
    Squidbillies

    Squidbillies is an animated television series about a family of anthropomorphic hillbilly squids?The Cuyler family?that live in poverty in the Appalachian region of North Georgia mountains....
     (2008), in which he is summoned from hell and plays banjo
  • Family Guy
    Family Guy

    Family Guy is an animated cartoon Television in the United States Situation comedy created by Seth MacFarlane that airs on Fox Broadcasting Company and regularly on other television networks in syndication....
    , when the rest of the family tries to insult Peter, and Stewie makes fun of Peter's weight by comparing him to Roy Clark


Discography


Albums

  • 1962 - The Lightning Fingers Of Roy Clark (Capitol)
  • 1963 - Roy Clark Sings The Tip Of My Fingers (Capitol)
  • 1964 - Happy To Be Unhappy (Capitol)
  • 1965 - Roy Clark Guitar Spectacular (Capitol)
  • 1966 - Roy Clark Sings Lonesome Love Ballads (Capitol)
  • 1966 - Stringin' Along With The Blues (Capitol)
  • 1966 - Live! (Tower)
  • 1967 - Roy Clark (Hilltop)
  • 1968 - In The Mood (Tower)
  • 1968 - Urban Suburban (Dot)
  • 1968 - Do You Believe This Roy Clark? (Dot)
  • 1969 - Silver Threads And Golden Needles (Hilltop)
  • 1969 - Yesterday, When I Was Young (Dot)
  • 1969 - The Everlovin' Soul Of Roy Clark (Dot)
  • 1969 - Greatest (Capitol)
  • 1970 - He'll Have To Go (Hilltop)
  • 1970 - The Other Side Of Roy Clark (Dot)
  • 1970 - I Never Picked Cotton (Dot)
  • 1970 - The Best Of Roy Clark (Dot)
  • 1971 - The Incredible Roy Clark (Dot)
  • 1971 - The Magnificent Sanctuary Band (Dot)
  • 1972 - Roy Clark Country (Dot)
  • 1972 - Live! (Dot)
  • 1973 - Superpicker (Dot)
  • 1973 - Come Live With Me (Dot)
  • 1973 - Roy Clark's Family Album (Dot)
  • 1974 - The Entertainer (Dot)
  • 1974 - Roy Clark's Family Friends (Dot)
  • 1974 - Classic Clark (Dot)
  • 1974 - Roy Clark (Dot)
  • 1975 - So Much To Remember (Capitol)
  • 1975 - A Pair Of Fives (Banjos That Is) with Buck Trent
    Buck Trent

    Charles Wilburn "Buck" Trent is an United States country music instrumentalist. He invented the electric Banjo and also plays the 5-string Banjo, Dobro, pedal steel, Mandolin, bass guitar and Guitar....
     (Dot)
  • 1975 - Greatest Hits (Dot)
  • 1976 - Heart To Heart (Dot)
  • 1976 - In Concert (Dot)
  • 1977 - The ABC Collection (ABC)
  • 1977 - My Music And Me (Dot)
  • 1977 - Hookin' It (Dot)
  • 1978 - Labor Of Love (ABC)
  • 1978 - Banjo Bandits with Buck Trent
    Buck Trent

    Charles Wilburn "Buck" Trent is an United States country music instrumentalist. He invented the electric Banjo and also plays the 5-string Banjo, Dobro, pedal steel, Mandolin, bass guitar and Guitar....
     (ABC)
  • 1979 - Makin' Music (MCA) with Clarence Gatemouth Brown
    Clarence Gatemouth Brown

    Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was a Louisiana and Texas United States blues musician.He was an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, who played an array of musical instruments such as guitar, fiddle, mandolin, viola as well as harmonica and drums....
     and Steve Ripley
    Steve Ripley

    Steve Ripley is a singer, songwriter, studio engineer, guitarist and inventor. He is also a member of country rock band The Tractors....
  • 1979 - My Music (MCA)
  • 1980 - Back To The Country (MCA)
  • 1981 - Makin' Love (MCA)
  • 1981 - Last Word In Jesus Is Us (MCA)
  • 1982 - Live From Austin City Limits (Churchill)
  • 1986 - Rockin' In The Country (Silver Dollar)
  • 1993 - Live In Branson, MO, USA (Laserlight)
  • 1993 - Great Picks And New Tricks (BRD)
  • 1995 - Roy Clark Plays Hank Williams with Joe Pass
    Joe Pass

    Joe Pass January 13, 1929 ? May 23, 1994) was a jazz guitarist. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, and use of a chord-melody style of play opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound influence on future guitarists....
     (Ranwood)
  • 1995 - My Favorite Hymns (Intersound)
  • 1998 - Branson City Limits (Page City)
  • 2000 - Live at Billy Bob's Texas (Image Intertainment)
  • 2008 - Timeless: the Classic Concert Performances (Varese/Fontana)


Awards

  • 1970 - CMA - Comedian Of The Year
  • 1972 - ACM - Entertainer Of The Year
  • 1973 - ACM - Entertainer Of The Year
  • 1973 - CMA - Entertainer of the Year
  • 1975 - CMA - Instrumental Group Of The Year (with Buck Trent
    Buck Trent

    Charles Wilburn "Buck" Trent is an United States country music instrumentalist. He invented the electric Banjo and also plays the 5-string Banjo, Dobro, pedal steel, Mandolin, bass guitar and Guitar....
    )
  • 1976 - CMA - Instrumental Group Of The Year (with Buck Trent)
  • 1977 - CMA - Instrumentalist Of The Year
  • 1978 - CMA - Instrumentalist Of The Year
  • 1980 - CMA - Instrumentalist Of The Year
  • 1982 - Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance
    Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance

    The Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance was first awarded in 1970. Between 1986 and 1989 the award was presented as the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance ....
     for "Roy Clark - Alabama Jubilee"


External links

  • official website