An intense and charismatic performer, Del Shannon wrote some of the more dramatic hits of the early '60s, including the oft-covered, musitron-infused mega-hit "Runaway" (featuring his famous falsetto) and the bitter "Hats Off to Larry" and "Little Town Flirt." All in all, Shannon had over a dozen hit singles in the U.S. charts within 5 years. When the hits stopped flowing by the end of the '60s, he focused on producing songs for other acts, and on performing live, but he was slowed down greatly by alcohol problems and depression. Both Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne produced quality albums for him 10 years apart, but in 1990--the year of his latest comeback recording venture--Shannon committed suicide.

Listen to Del Shannon at Finetune.

• (1990)  Greatest Hits

• Runaway
• Hats Off to Larry
• Little Town Flirt
• Do You Want to Dance
• Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun)

• Bobby Darin
• The Shirelles
• Lesley Gore
• Chubby Checker
• Roy Orbison
• Frank Sinatra
• The Platters
• Gene Pitney
• Bobby Vinton
• The Chiffons
• The Shangri-Las
• Neil Diamond
• Elton John
• Queen
• Crests
• Dean Martin
• Billy Joel
• The Ventures
• The Marcels
• Peter, Paul and Mary

• moscow
• justmeandthedog
• maneela
• supercharts
• dharmanavy
• seductress
• bastable9
• marksof
• stuartek
• WhiteBobcatCanada
• frank46
• Figleaf23
• CNLPC
• santolon
• eazarov
• eeva_liisa
• ishiiki
• yeyeboy
• Apath
• jetcia53
• calthai
• RONJ
• darrellwcook
• kk_francis
• gergad

• CNLPC on 2009-03-25 12:00:14.170:
  Missing here is the amazing "Drop Down and Get Me", with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers backing Shannon up, and Tom Petty producing. It is a terrific glimpse of what Shannon might have been but for his illnesses. (Rumor has it that he was slated to replace Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys at the time of his death.)