Charles Weedon Westover, a.k.a., Del Shannon, was born in MI in 1934 first learned to play the ukelele & guitar by listening vfc to & emulating country & western artists like Hank William’s, Hank Snow & Lefty Frizell. His seminal hit single, Runaway whose distinctive organ-like sound was created by using a musitron, modeled on the clavioline. The record went to #1 in 1961. He later formed another band & released Gotta Keep Searchin' in 1964 which went to #5 in the U.S. In 1965 the duo Peter and Gordon covered his song “I Go To Pieces” which was recorded at EMI’s Abbey Road studios & released in ‘65 becoming a top 10 hit in the U.K. & America. Dell’s career in the 70’s suffered as a result of his descent into alcoholism but he later stopped drinking & in 1990 he started taking the antidepressant Prozac whereupon he developed severe side effects & in 1990 took his own life with a .22 cal. rifle. He was posthumously inducted into the r & r Hall of Fame in 1999.
One interesting factoid about him was that in 1964 he produced a recording session with a young Michigan man named Bob Segar & gave the acetate of those sessions to Dick Clark which led to a recording contract for Segar.