As chief songwriter of The Byrds, Gene Clark helped craft the jangly, dreamy,
West Coast folk rock sound of the 1960s, but endured a tumultuous solo career
troubled by addiction, health and mental problems and died aged only 46 in 1991.
Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, Clark started learning the guitar at the
age of nine from his bluegrass-playing father and, inspired by the likes of
Elvis Presley and Hank Williams, began performing with high school band Rum
Runners in his teens. With the gentle, clean-cut folk music of The Kingston Trio
and The Weavers the popular trend o...