Del Shannon (born Charles Westover) had an unlikely start for a rock star. A country music fan, the first instrument he learned was the ukulele. After a stint in the Army, where he joined a band, he returned to his home in Michigan, where he was working in a carpet store and playing at the Hi Lo Club on weekends when, in 1960, he wrote a song called “Little Runaway”. (He was one of the few stars of the era who wrote their own songs.) With the help of Ann Arbor deejay Ollie McLaughlin, he got a record deal, a new name, Del Shannon (he’ll explain that) and a new career. “Little Runaway” became “Runaway”, which became his first hit in 1961, followed by “Hats Off To Larry”. He was one of a small group of artists to score hits during the British Invasion, and he had more of them in the UK than the US. After the Beatles opened for him at a Liverpool concert, he became the first US artist to record a Lennon/McCartney song, “From Me To You”. Shannon continued performing as an oldies act and later, a country artist, and produced for a then-unknown Bob Seeger. He had a resurgence in 1988 when a new version of “Runaway” became the theme song for NBC’s “Crime Story”. He was working on an album and battling depression in 1990, when his doctor prescribed Prozac, Five days later, on February 8, 1990, he committed suicide. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.