Dick Clark was an American television, radio personality and television producer who hosted American Bandstand from 1952-1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid game show from 1973-1988 and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve which broadcast New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City's famous Times Square.
As host of American Bandstand, Clark introduced rock and roll to many Americans. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences including The Supremes, Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, Prince, Madonna and many more. Singer, Paul Anka claimed American Bandstand was responsible for creating a "youth culture". Due to Clark's perennially youthful appearance and his largely teenaged audience, Clark was often referred to as "America's oldest teenager" or "the world's oldest teenager".
In his off-stage roles, Clark served as chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions. He also founded the American Bandstand Diner, a restaurant chain themed after the television program of the same name. In 1973, he created and produced the annual American Music Awards show, similar to the Grammy Awards.
Dick was always there for me and Motown, even before there was a Motown. He was an entrepreneur, a visionary and a major force in changing pop culture and ultimately influencing integration.
Berry Gordy,
Motown Founder
He presented Motown and The Supremes on tour with the Caravan of Stars and on American bandstand, where I got my start.
Diana Ross
American Bandstand was an American music-performance and dance television program that aired regularly on ABC. The show featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introducd by Clark. The program was televised from Philadelphia from its 1952 debut until its move to Los Angeles.
First called Bandstand, the program premiered October 6, 1952 and was hosted by Philadelphia radio DJ, Bob Horn. It was shot live from Studio B at Forty-Sixth and Market Streets where the two-and-a-half-hour show was broadcast regionally on WFIL-TV Channel 6.
Bandstand DJ, Bob Horn was host before the era of Dick Clark
Circa 1955
Pictured are the extremely popular American Bandstand couple ..
Bob Clayton and Justine Carrelli
American Bandstand
Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire
by John A. Jackson
"I don't make culture, I sell it" Dick Clark once remarked. Indeed, the man who reigned as host of American Bandstand for nearly four decades may not have invited rock 'n' roll, but he sold it to the American public better than anyone before or since! Before Clark, rock 'n' roll was the step child of radio which took to playing records as a cost-saving measure after television siphoned off radios most lucrative sponsors. It was network television and specifically Clark's American Bandstand that ultimately legitimized what was then viewed by most adults as vulgar, low-class music, broadcasting a sanitized vision of rock 'n' roll straight into America's living rooms, five afternoons a week. This book is the first to tell the full story of what happened in front of, and behind, the cameras on American Bandstand providing both a history of this landmark show and of the changing styles of rock 'n' roll over four decades. Based on extensive interviews with music business figures, recording stars and Clark himself plus featuring dozens of rare or never before published photographs, this is a riveting and uncensored account of a show that managed to survive countless revolutions in popular music.
Jackson describes Bandstands humble beginnings in Philadelphia's blue collar south side and enabled Clark to launch his career, the glory days when an appearance on Bandstand was one of the most prized gigs in the music business and when teenagers lined up for blocks hoping to enter the studio.
As entertaining as it is eye-opening, Dick Clark's American Bandstand will bring back a flood of memories to everyone who lived through that era. It will fascinate everyone interested in popular American culture or in rock 'n' history.
Dick Clark was voted .. Most Likely to Sell the Brooklyn Bridge .. by his hiigh school classmates.
It was always fun to watch the kids dancing and rating the newest songs: It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. I'll give it an 87, Dick."
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