Del Shannon

Del Shannon (December 30, 1934 - February 8, 1990) (born Charles Weedon Westover) was an American rock and roller who launched into fame with the huge hit "Runaway" (1961), which he followed up with "Hats Off to Larry", another big hit, and the less popular "So Long, Baby", another song of breakup bitterness. After these hits, Shannon was unable to keep his momentum in the US, but became a sensation in England. In 1963, he became the first American artist to record a cover of a Beatles song with "From Me to You".

Shannon returned to the charts in 1964 with "Keep Searching", followed by "Stranger in Town," both songs about flight from pursuit in a dangerous world. In the 1970s, Shannon's career slowed down greatly; the hates and fears he had turned into art in his earlier songs were turning into full-blown mental illness, and he was self-medicating with alcohol. He finally put the bottle down in 1978, and he was able to return to mainstream audiences with "Sea of Love" in the early 1980s (from an album produced by Tom Petty).

On February 8, 1990, while working on a comeback album with Jeff Lynne, Shannon fatally shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber rifle. His wife thought his death might have been related to his recent use of the prescription drug Prozac.