Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer, musician, and television presenter.

During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw.

He had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., "Yesterday, When I Was Young" and "Thank God and Greyhound"), and his instrumental skill had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians.

[4] He spent his childhood in Meherrin and New York City, where his father moved the family to take jobs during the Great Depression.

[4] The first musical instrument Clark ever played was a four-string cigar box with a ukulele neck attached to it,[4] which he picked up in elementary school.

[10] He toured the country for the next 18 months playing backup guitar during the week for David "Stringbean" Akeman, Annie Lou and Danny, Lonzo and Oscar, and Hal and Velma Smith, working county fairs and small town theaters.

On weekends, these acts usually teamed up with country music superstars like Red Foley or Ernest Tubb and played large venues in big cities.

[8] At the age of 23, Clark obtained his pilot's certificate and then bought a 1953 Piper Tri-Pacer (N1132C), which he flew for many years.

[13] Rising country music star Jimmy Dean asked Clark to join his band, the Texas Wildcats, in 1954.

[14] Clark was the lead guitarist,[2] and made appearances on Dean's "Town and Country Time" program on WARL-AM and on WMAL-TV (after the show moved to television from radio in 1955).

[15][16] Clark competed in 1956 on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a variety show airing on CBS.

[9] In the spring of 1959, Clark appeared regularly on George Hamilton IV's short-lived television series in Washington, D.C.[18] In 1960, Clark went to Las Vegas, where he worked as a guitarist in a band led by former West Coast Western Swing bandleader-comedian Hank Penny.

[19] During Jack Paar's temporary absence from The Tonight Show in early 1960, Jimmy Dean was asked to guest-host the program.

Once, in an episode of the Saturday evening Jackie Gleason Show dedicated to country music, Clark played a blistering rendition of "Down Home".

[24] In 1960,[8] Clark began touring with rockabilly star Wanda Jackson, and playing backup instrumentals on several of her recordings.

[10] By the early 1970s, Clark was the highest-paid country music star in the United States, earning $7 million ($54,900,000 in 2023 dollars) a year.

[citation needed] Clark endorsed Mosrite, Gretsch, and Heritage guitars; the latter produced a signature model.

[3] They made their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the Roy Clark Elementary School was named in his honor in 1978.

[29][30] He played an annual benefit concert at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, the proceeds of which went to fund scholarships for aspiring musicians.

Wayne Newton, Ella Fitzgerald, The Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Bruce Hornsby, Pearl Bailey and Ralph Stanley were the other founding inductees.