Gene Clark

Clark is one of the great underappreciated songwriters of his era, the engine behind the Byrds' early brilliance who never quite got his due. His melancholic, melodically rich songs helped invent folk rock, and his 1974 solo album No Other is a cult masterpiece that grows more revered with every passing year. There is a haunted, searching quality to his voice and writing that sets him apart from the jangle-pop he is often filed under. His career was marked by bad timing and personal struggles, and he died far too young at 46. For me he is the quintessential cult artist: brilliant, restless, and finally getting recognized decades late.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Gene Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Tipton, Missouri. He was a founding member and the principal early songwriter of the Byrds, writing several of the group's signature songs before leaving in 1966. He went on to a respected solo and collaborative career, including the acclaimed album No Other, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the Byrds.

Name (English)

Gene Clark

Name (Japanese)

ジーン・クラーク

Reading

じーん・くらーく

Born

November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991

Origin

Tipton, Missouri, United States

Occupation

Guitarist / Singer-songwriter / Composer / Country musician / Songwriter

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Monkey

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene%20Clark
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q471979

Tags

• Missouri native
• Guitarist
• Singer-songwriter
• Composer

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.