LOS ANGELES — Dick Clark, the ever-youthful television host and tireless entrepreneur who helped bring rock 'n' roll into the mainstream on "American Bandstand" and later produced and hosted a vast range of programming from game shows to the year-end countdown from Times Square on "New Year's Rockin' Eve," has died. He was 82.
Spokesman Paul Shefrin said Clark had a heart attack Wednesday morning at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, where he had gone the day before for an outpatient procedure. Clark had continued performing even after he suffered a stroke in 2004 that affected his ability to speak and walk.
Long dubbed "the world's oldest teenager" because of his boyish appearance, Clark bridged the rebellious new music scene and traditional show business. He was equally comfortable whether chatting about music with Sam Cooke or bantering with Ed McMahon about TV bloopers. He thrived as the founder of Dick Clark Productions, supplying movies, game and music shows, beauty contests and more to TV. Among his credits: "The $25,000 Pyramid," ''TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" and the American Music Awards.
For a time in the 1980s, he had shows on all three networks and was listed among the Forbes 400 of wealthiest Americans. Clark also was part of radio as a partner in the United Stations Radio Network, which provided programs — including Clark's — to thousands of stations.
"There's hardly any segment of the population that doesn't see what I do," Clark told The Associated Press in a 1985 interview. "It can be embarrassing. People come up to me and say, 'I love your show,' and I have no idea which one they're talking about."
The original "American Bandstand" was one of network TV's longest-running series as part of ABC's daytime lineup from 1957 to 1987. It later aired for a year in syndication and briefly on the USA Network. Through the years, it introduced stars ranging from Buddy Holly to Madonna. The show's status as an American cultural institution was solidified when Clark donated Bandstand's original podium and backdrop to the Smithsonian Institution.
Clark joined "Bandstand" in 1956 after Bob Horn, who'd been the host since its 1952 debut, was fired. Under Clark's guidance, it went from a local Philadelphia show to a national phenomenon.
"I played records, the kids danced, and America watched," was how Clark once described the series' simplicity. In his 1958 hit "Sweet Little Sixteen," Chuck Berry sang that "they'll be rocking on Bandstand, Philadelphia, P-A."
As a host, he had the smooth delivery of a seasoned radio announcer. As a producer, he had an ear for a hit record. He also knew how to make wary adults welcome this odd new breed of music in their homes.
Clark endured accusations that he was in with the squares, with critic Lester Bangs defining Bandstand as "a leggily acceptable euphemism of the teenage experience."
In a 1985 interview, Clark acknowledged the complaints. "But I knew at the time that if we didn't make the presentation to the older generation palatable, it could kill it.
"So along with Little Richard and Chuck Berry and the Platters and the Crows and the Jayhawks ... the boys wore coats and ties and the girls combed their hair and they all looked like sweet little kids into a high school dance," he said.
But Clark defended pop artists and artistic freedom, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said in an online biography of the 1993 inductee. He helped give black artists their due by playing original R&B recordings instead of cover versions by white performers, and he condemned censorship.
His stroke in December 2004 forced him to miss his annual appearance on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve." He returned the following year and, although his speech at times was difficult to understand, many praised his bravery, including other stroke victims.
Still speaking with difficulty, he continued taking part in his New Year's shows, though in a diminished role. Ryan Seacrest became the main host.
"I'm just thankful I'm still able to enjoy this once-a-year treat," he told The Associated Press by email in December 2008 as another New Year's Eve approached.
He was honored at the Emmy Awards in 2006, telling the crowd: "I have accomplished my childhood dream, to be in show business. Everybody should be so lucky to have their dreams come true. I've been truly blessed."
He was born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in 1929. His father, Richard Augustus Clark, was a sales manager who worked in radio.
Clark idolized his athletic older brother, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. In his 1976 autobiography, "Rock, Roll & Remember," Clark recalled how radio helped ease his loneliness and turned him into a fan of Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey and other popular hosts.
From Godfrey, he said, he learned that "a radio announcer does not talk to 'those of you out there in radio land'; a radio announcer talks to me as an individual."
Clark began his career in the mailroom of a Utica, N.Y., radio station in 1945. By age 26, he was a broadcasting veteran, with nine years' experience on radio and TV stations in Syracuse and Utica, N.Y., and Philadelphia. He held a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University. While in Philadelphia, Clark befriended McMahon, who later credited Clark for introducing him to his future "Tonight Show" boss, Johnny Carson.
In the 1960s, "American Bandstand" moved from black-and-white to color, from weekday broadcasts to once-a-week Saturday shows and from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Although its influence started to ebb, it still featured some of the biggest stars of each decade, whether Janis Joplin, the Jackson 5, Talking Heads or Prince. But Clark never did book two of rock's iconic groups, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Elvis Presley also never performed, although Clark managed an on-air telephone interview while Presley was in the Army.
One of the most important TV apperances Madonna did at the start of her career was on American Bandstand, when she famously told him that she wantedt to "rule the world". Dick became a big fan of hers, and was in fact the one responsible for her apperance on the 1985 Live Aid concert.
Clark kept more than records spinning with his Dick Clark Productions. Its credits included the Academy of Country Music and Golden Globe awards; TV movies including the Emmy-winning "The Woman Who Willed a Miracle" (1984), the "$25,000 Pyramid" game show and the 1985 film "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins." Clark himself made a cameo on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and a dramatic appearance as a witness on the original "Perry Mason." He was an involuntary part of Michael Moore's Academy Award-winning "Bowling for Columbine," in which Clark is seen brushing off Moore as the filmmaker confronts him about working conditions at a restaurant owned by Clark.
In 1974, at ABC's request, Clark created the American Music Awards after the network lost the broadcast rights to the Grammy Awards.
He was also an author, with "Dick Clark's American Bandstand" and such self-help books as "Dick Clark's Program for Success in Your Business and Personal Life" and "Looking Great, Staying Young." His unchanging looks inspired a joke in "Peggy Sue Gets Married," the 1986 comedy starring Kathleen Turner as an unhappy wife and mother transported back to 1960. Watching Clark on a black and white TV set, she shakes her head in amazement, "Look at that man, he never ages."
Clark's clean-cut image survived a music industry scandal. In 1960, during a congressional investigation of "payola," or bribery in the record and radio industry, Clark was called on to testify.
He was cleared of any suspicions but was required by ABC to divest himself of record-company interests to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The demand cost him $8 million, Clark once estimated. His holdings included partial ownership of Swan Records, which later released the first U.S. version of the Beatles' smash "She Loves You."
In 2004, Clark announced plans for a revamped version of "American Bandstand." The show, produced with "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller, was to feature a host other than Clark.
He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1994 and served as spokesman for the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
Clark, twice divorced, had a son, Richard Augustus II, with first wife Barbara Mallery and two children, Duane and Cindy, with second wife Loretta Martin. He married Kari Wigton in 1977.
In a 1989 Times Union article, Clark spoke about “American Bandstand”:
“I can remember the day we went on the ABC network originally,” Clark said. “That was very exciting because we’d had a five- year history of (local) success in Philadelphia before then. There were a lot of people who were very skeptical about whether we’d succeed or not on a national level. We had said, ‘There is no doubt it will. It will, it will, it will.’ And we really believed it would. And it did.”
The show with Clark at the helm lasted for 37 years, and in that time Clark had a profound impact on popularizing pop music, and making Americans dance.
In the interview, he said, “I’m the luckiest human that ever walked the face of the Earth. I was blessed with good health and the ability to do what I only dreamed of as a child…. When the day comes for me to check out, or the Lord beckons me to go, they will say something about ‘He played the music and the kids danced.’ Or, ‘He was America’s Pied Piper.’ … One of the things I hope they will make note of is that we kept the music alive.”
"I was very sad to hear this news. We all felt Dick was always this handsome teenager, as we all got older, Dick remained a teenager. I will always appreciate what he did for me and for popular music. He presented Motown and The Supremes on tour with the Caravan of Stars and on American Bandstand where I got my start. Dick Clark was a pioneer, he was a music star maker, he was a legend and was my friend. He said that 'music is the soundtrack of your life.' Since I was 16, he was always a part of mine. My love and prayers go out to his family." — Diana Ross.
"Even though I told him in 1984 that I wanted to rule the world, it's Dick Clark who has ruled the world. He loved what he did and his energy and enthusiasm were boundless. A great man. I bow to his memory and everything he did with his life. Rest in peace. You will be missed." - Madonna
"Dick Clark changed the face of musical television. He was wonderful to many artists including our family. We will miss him. God bless." — Janet Jackson
Spokesman Paul Shefrin said Clark had a heart attack Wednesday morning at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, where he had gone the day before for an outpatient procedure. Clark had continued performing even after he suffered a stroke in 2004 that affected his ability to speak and walk.
Long dubbed "the world's oldest teenager" because of his boyish appearance, Clark bridged the rebellious new music scene and traditional show business. He was equally comfortable whether chatting about music with Sam Cooke or bantering with Ed McMahon about TV bloopers. He thrived as the founder of Dick Clark Productions, supplying movies, game and music shows, beauty contests and more to TV. Among his credits: "The $25,000 Pyramid," ''TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" and the American Music Awards.
For a time in the 1980s, he had shows on all three networks and was listed among the Forbes 400 of wealthiest Americans. Clark also was part of radio as a partner in the United Stations Radio Network, which provided programs — including Clark's — to thousands of stations.
"There's hardly any segment of the population that doesn't see what I do," Clark told The Associated Press in a 1985 interview. "It can be embarrassing. People come up to me and say, 'I love your show,' and I have no idea which one they're talking about."
The original "American Bandstand" was one of network TV's longest-running series as part of ABC's daytime lineup from 1957 to 1987. It later aired for a year in syndication and briefly on the USA Network. Through the years, it introduced stars ranging from Buddy Holly to Madonna. The show's status as an American cultural institution was solidified when Clark donated Bandstand's original podium and backdrop to the Smithsonian Institution.
Clark joined "Bandstand" in 1956 after Bob Horn, who'd been the host since its 1952 debut, was fired. Under Clark's guidance, it went from a local Philadelphia show to a national phenomenon.
"I played records, the kids danced, and America watched," was how Clark once described the series' simplicity. In his 1958 hit "Sweet Little Sixteen," Chuck Berry sang that "they'll be rocking on Bandstand, Philadelphia, P-A."
As a host, he had the smooth delivery of a seasoned radio announcer. As a producer, he had an ear for a hit record. He also knew how to make wary adults welcome this odd new breed of music in their homes.
Clark endured accusations that he was in with the squares, with critic Lester Bangs defining Bandstand as "a leggily acceptable euphemism of the teenage experience."
In a 1985 interview, Clark acknowledged the complaints. "But I knew at the time that if we didn't make the presentation to the older generation palatable, it could kill it.
"So along with Little Richard and Chuck Berry and the Platters and the Crows and the Jayhawks ... the boys wore coats and ties and the girls combed their hair and they all looked like sweet little kids into a high school dance," he said.
But Clark defended pop artists and artistic freedom, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said in an online biography of the 1993 inductee. He helped give black artists their due by playing original R&B recordings instead of cover versions by white performers, and he condemned censorship.
His stroke in December 2004 forced him to miss his annual appearance on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve." He returned the following year and, although his speech at times was difficult to understand, many praised his bravery, including other stroke victims.
Still speaking with difficulty, he continued taking part in his New Year's shows, though in a diminished role. Ryan Seacrest became the main host.
"I'm just thankful I'm still able to enjoy this once-a-year treat," he told The Associated Press by email in December 2008 as another New Year's Eve approached.
He was honored at the Emmy Awards in 2006, telling the crowd: "I have accomplished my childhood dream, to be in show business. Everybody should be so lucky to have their dreams come true. I've been truly blessed."
He was born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in 1929. His father, Richard Augustus Clark, was a sales manager who worked in radio.
Clark idolized his athletic older brother, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. In his 1976 autobiography, "Rock, Roll & Remember," Clark recalled how radio helped ease his loneliness and turned him into a fan of Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey and other popular hosts.
From Godfrey, he said, he learned that "a radio announcer does not talk to 'those of you out there in radio land'; a radio announcer talks to me as an individual."
Clark began his career in the mailroom of a Utica, N.Y., radio station in 1945. By age 26, he was a broadcasting veteran, with nine years' experience on radio and TV stations in Syracuse and Utica, N.Y., and Philadelphia. He held a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University. While in Philadelphia, Clark befriended McMahon, who later credited Clark for introducing him to his future "Tonight Show" boss, Johnny Carson.
In the 1960s, "American Bandstand" moved from black-and-white to color, from weekday broadcasts to once-a-week Saturday shows and from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Although its influence started to ebb, it still featured some of the biggest stars of each decade, whether Janis Joplin, the Jackson 5, Talking Heads or Prince. But Clark never did book two of rock's iconic groups, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Elvis Presley also never performed, although Clark managed an on-air telephone interview while Presley was in the Army.
One of the most important TV apperances Madonna did at the start of her career was on American Bandstand, when she famously told him that she wantedt to "rule the world". Dick became a big fan of hers, and was in fact the one responsible for her apperance on the 1985 Live Aid concert.
Clark kept more than records spinning with his Dick Clark Productions. Its credits included the Academy of Country Music and Golden Globe awards; TV movies including the Emmy-winning "The Woman Who Willed a Miracle" (1984), the "$25,000 Pyramid" game show and the 1985 film "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins." Clark himself made a cameo on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and a dramatic appearance as a witness on the original "Perry Mason." He was an involuntary part of Michael Moore's Academy Award-winning "Bowling for Columbine," in which Clark is seen brushing off Moore as the filmmaker confronts him about working conditions at a restaurant owned by Clark.
In 1974, at ABC's request, Clark created the American Music Awards after the network lost the broadcast rights to the Grammy Awards.
He was also an author, with "Dick Clark's American Bandstand" and such self-help books as "Dick Clark's Program for Success in Your Business and Personal Life" and "Looking Great, Staying Young." His unchanging looks inspired a joke in "Peggy Sue Gets Married," the 1986 comedy starring Kathleen Turner as an unhappy wife and mother transported back to 1960. Watching Clark on a black and white TV set, she shakes her head in amazement, "Look at that man, he never ages."
Clark's clean-cut image survived a music industry scandal. In 1960, during a congressional investigation of "payola," or bribery in the record and radio industry, Clark was called on to testify.
He was cleared of any suspicions but was required by ABC to divest himself of record-company interests to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The demand cost him $8 million, Clark once estimated. His holdings included partial ownership of Swan Records, which later released the first U.S. version of the Beatles' smash "She Loves You."
In 2004, Clark announced plans for a revamped version of "American Bandstand." The show, produced with "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller, was to feature a host other than Clark.
He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1994 and served as spokesman for the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
Clark, twice divorced, had a son, Richard Augustus II, with first wife Barbara Mallery and two children, Duane and Cindy, with second wife Loretta Martin. He married Kari Wigton in 1977.
In a 1989 Times Union article, Clark spoke about “American Bandstand”:
“I can remember the day we went on the ABC network originally,” Clark said. “That was very exciting because we’d had a five- year history of (local) success in Philadelphia before then. There were a lot of people who were very skeptical about whether we’d succeed or not on a national level. We had said, ‘There is no doubt it will. It will, it will, it will.’ And we really believed it would. And it did.”
The show with Clark at the helm lasted for 37 years, and in that time Clark had a profound impact on popularizing pop music, and making Americans dance.
In the interview, he said, “I’m the luckiest human that ever walked the face of the Earth. I was blessed with good health and the ability to do what I only dreamed of as a child…. When the day comes for me to check out, or the Lord beckons me to go, they will say something about ‘He played the music and the kids danced.’ Or, ‘He was America’s Pied Piper.’ … One of the things I hope they will make note of is that we kept the music alive.”
"I was very sad to hear this news. We all felt Dick was always this handsome teenager, as we all got older, Dick remained a teenager. I will always appreciate what he did for me and for popular music. He presented Motown and The Supremes on tour with the Caravan of Stars and on American Bandstand where I got my start. Dick Clark was a pioneer, he was a music star maker, he was a legend and was my friend. He said that 'music is the soundtrack of your life.' Since I was 16, he was always a part of mine. My love and prayers go out to his family." — Diana Ross.
"Dick Clark changed the face of musical television. He was wonderful to many artists including our family. We will miss him. God bless." — Janet Jackson
"Not 2 many people actually deserve the term "legend", Dick Clark embodied it & never lost his humility or humanity. We will miss him!" — Gloria Estefan
Madonna & Dick
Twenty eight years later, it remains one of the most famous things she's ever said. Asked on "American Bandstand" by TV icon Dick Clark, who died on Wednesday at the age of 82, "What do you hope will happen, not only in 1984 but for the rest of your professional life? What are your dreams? What's left?" Madonna answered simply, famously and with characteristic directness.
"To rule the world," she said without hesitation. And that's what she went on to do ... well, the pop world anyway.
She was on "Bandstand," ostensibly, to perform "Holiday" and promote her self-titled debut, which was released a few months earlier in the summer of 1983, but in retrospect it feels like she was really there to prepare the world for what was coming. Like a Virgin dropped later that same year, and with its release Madonna went from being a well-liked and charismatic pop tart with a few radio hits to the most famous female singer on the planet.
The "Bandstand" crowd went wild for then-25-year-old Madonna's performance, and Clark had a hard time getting a word in. When everyone finally settled down, he asked Madonna about her burgeoning career, including her early years in New York and touring Paris with "Born to Be Alive" singer Patrick Hernandez. "He offered me a tour with him as a background singer and a dancer," Madonna told Clark. "So I jumped on that boat and got into the music industry that way and started writing songs, and here I am."
As news of Clark's passing began to surface, fans started posting the clip all over Twitter and soon enough, Madonna's herself chimed in, posting the video to her Facebook page with the message, "Even though I told him in 1984 that I wanted to rule the world, it's Dick Clark who has ruled the world."
While "Bandstand" wasn't her first TV appearance and Clark certainly didn't discover Madonna - she already had a top-five hit with "Lucky Star" by the time she appeared - her visit to the show feels like the first seminal event in what went on to be one of the most legendary careers in pop-culture history. It's where things really began, months before she took the stage in a wedding dress at the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards.
It's also a real showcase for the Madonna many fans love most. Playful, natural, beautiful and - most importantly - brimming with confidence, it's no surprise the emerging pop star on display on "Bandstand" that night went on to score 38 top tens, more than any performer in music history, 12 #1 singles and eight #1 albums, the latest of which, MDNA, debuted in the top spot 28 years, two months and 20 days after her visit to "American Bandstand."
Today, many will be looking back on Dick Clark's many achievements and dissecting the almost immeasurable impact he had on music and television, and we'll remember for how genuinely excited he seemed to be talking to a little-known disco singer on January 14, 1984. His decision to invite her on that night quite literally changed the face of pop music forever, and for that we will always be thankful.
MTV
3 comments:
RIP Dick Clark. Fantastic tribute. A Legend, Icon, Pioneer, A huge loss for America and the world.
I can imagine what a loss this is for America especially. He was such a big staple of the entertainment business and for such a long time.
For the rest of the world, he was in a way the face of America. He did so much for the music business and his New Years celebrations were known all over the world. Very sad to see him go.
So sad. A true legend and pioneer gone. RIP
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