bio

Del Shannon was born Charles Westover in the small American town of Coopersville, Michigan on December 30 1934 to parents Bert and Leone. The musical success story of Del Shannon began in early 1961 when his first release, "Runaway" hit the charts and reached the prized number one spot and became a world wide smash.

Del had wrote the lyrics to the tune during the day while working as a salesman at a local carpet store, and fellow organist Max Crook played the same musitron solo that appears on the record one night at the Hi-Lo, a local club where Del would play at the time. Other world-wide hits that followed include "Hats Off To Larry", "So Long Baby", "Hey! Little Girl", "Swiss Maid", "Little Town Flirt", "Two Kinds Of Teardrops", "Handy Man", "Keep Searchin'", "Stranger In Town", "The Big Hurt", & "Sea Of Love".

The Beatles were Del Shannon's support act on his 1963 tour of the U.K. While playing at the Royal Albert Hall Del asked John Lennon if he could record "From Me To You". At first Lennon agreed, but later that night he changed his mind and told Del he shouldn't record it.
In the end, Del Shannon did record "From Me To You" and became the first American artist to cover a Lennon & McCartney song. Del's version even out sold The Beatles version in the U.S.

On a package tour with The Searchers and Peter & Gordon in Australia in 1964, Del Shannon played "I Go To Pieces" to Peter & Gordon while backstage at the Sydney Stadium. The duo asked if they could record the song, and Del was willing to hand it over - this resulted in Peter & Gordon scoring a Top Ten hit with the Del Shannon composition.

When you're hot, you're hot - and 1965 was for Del. Pepsi-Cola signed Del for a handful of radio commericals which were titled "Come Alive, You're In The Pepsi Generation". The jingle soared with engery and was similar to his hit record the year before, "Handy Man". But soon the hits would dry up, and even the promise of having continued hits and signing with Hollywood's Liberty Records would fall in somewhat of a heap, at least commerically. Of the three albums released that Del recorded for the label, only one wasn't more than half filled with cover versions of recent hits.

That album from 1968 is "The Further Adventures Of Charles Westover" - and remains one of the most sought after psychedelic pieces of that period. Although both the album and singles were a flop commerically, it ranks high on collectors wish-lists today, and was recently issued on compact disc.

During the '70s Del continued to tour the world and a 1972 performence in the U.K ("Live In England") was recorded and released on United Artists much to the delight of his fans.
1975 saw Del signed to Island Records, his first single, "Tell Her No" (a remake of the '60s Zombies hit) failed to chart. He then worked with "ELO's" Jeff Lynne for the second single (and last Island single) "Cry Baby Cry", but that also proved to be a non-event with the record buying public.

During this time Del's drinking problems had worsened, but once threatened with divorce he checked himself in for recovery. It was from that time on he remained close with people he had met at AA, and became a regular speaker at group meetings right up until the time of his death.

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