R.I.P. Del Shannon

I watched the cult Japanese horror movie 'Audition', or 'Odishon' as it it's called in the original Japanese version, a while back now but thought it deserved mention due to its being one out of the two or three films that have ever managed to freak me out. It's just the torture scene. Anyway, this post is dedicated to Del Shannon (1934-1990), one of my favourite Rock and Roll artists along with the King. I'd been aware of his super hit 'Runaway' but not until relatively recently was I enlightened to the full extent of his awesome legacy via extensive hours spent scouring the Pirate Bay...Who was it that said, when Del sang, he had 'a teardrop in his throat?' I don't quite recall, but they were spot on...In the February of 1990 Del Shannon shot himself in the head with a rifle after a long and often difficult career. I first became intrigued by his looks and those pretty eyes in old photographs of him, then his melancholic lyrics, coy in the fashion of that typically 50s kind of romance. I'm not sure his memory is honoured often enough by DJs and general airwaves today, so I hope this post goes some way in spreading the gospel of Del so often overlooked by casual early rock admirers...