Clyde Stacy born 11 August 1936

 

Haskell Clyde Stacy (11 August 1936 – 6 November 2013) was an American rockabilly singer and guitarist who recorded in the 1950s as the leader of Clyde Stacy & the Nitecaps, and has been credited as a founder of the "Tulsa Sound".

He was born on a farm near Checotah, Oklahoma. He started his education at Jenks before moving with his family to Arizona and then, in 1949, to Lubbock, Texas, where he learned guitar and knew Buddy Holly, one year his senior. He moved back to Tulsa in 1954 and soon formed his own group, the Nitecaps, with lead guitarist John D. LeVan. 

 

 

 

He was discovered by radio disc jockey Don Wallace, who became his manager and won him a contract with the Candlelight record label. In 1957, his first single, "So Young" backed with "Hoy Hoy", reached no.68 on the Billboard pop chart, and became even more popular in Canada. "So Young" was banned by some radio stations because of the sexy female voice overdubbed onto the record by producer Woody Hinderling. Several of Stacy's later records, including "Baby Shame" (1958) – originally recorded by Little Willie Littlefield – and "Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor" (1959) also performed better in Canada than in the US, where his only later chart success came when "So Young" briefly re-entered the national pop chart in 1959. 

In 1958 he settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He continued to perform and tour, opening shows for Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline and others, and appeared on American Bandstand. He also continued to record occasionally until 1963. In 1975 he returned to live in Oklahoma, running a fence company, and also performed at rock and roll festivals across the US and in Europe, on occasions with old friend Leon Russell. He retired from the music business in 1985. More than 25 years later he was persuaded to return to the stage at ‘Viva Las Vegas’ in 2011. 

 

 

Clyde was killed in a car accident, November 6, 2013. He was traveling northbound on Highway 69 near Muskogee when he drove into a truck that had stopped on the highway. (Info mainly Wikipedia)

 

 

Here's Clyde singing "I Sure Do Love You Baby"