Del Shannon

Out of Battle Creek, Michigan came one of rock and roll's most distinctive voices, Del Shannon, born Charles Westover in 1934. Shannon burst onto the scene in 1961 with 'Runaway,' a track so infectious and strange that it hit number one on both sides of the Atlantic. That eerie Musitron solo — an early electronic keyboard played by his collaborator Max Crook — gave the song an otherworldly edge that set Shannon apart from the pack immediately.

Musically, Shannon occupied a fascinating space between rockabilly urgency and the melodic sophistication of early 60s pop. His voice had genuine emotional range, capable of soaring into a falsetto that felt desperate rather than showy. Hits like 'Hats Off to Larry' and 'Little Town Flirt' kept him in the charts, and he was sharp enough to cover the Beatles' 'From Me to You' in America before the Fab Four had even broken through there.

Shannon's cultural footprint is bigger than casual listeners might realize. Tom Petty, who co-produced Shannon's 1981 comeback album 'Drop Down and Get Me,' was a devoted fan, and that record reminded a new generation what they'd been missing. Tragically, Shannon died in 1990, but his influence on power pop and alternative rock runs deep, with artists from the Cars to the Replacements carrying his melodic DNA forward.