Haskell Clyde Stacy (August 11, 1936 – November 6, 2013) was an American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

singer and guitarist who recorded in the 1950s as the leader of Clyde Stacy & The Nitecaps. He is credited as a founder of the "

Tulsa Sound The Tulsa sound is a popular musical style that originated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the second half of the twentieth century. It is a mix of blues, blues rock, country, rock and roll and swamp pop sounds of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Artis ...

Biography

Stacy was born in

Eufaula, Oklahoma Eufaula is a city in and the county seat of McIntosh County, Oklahoma, McIntosh County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,813 at the 2010 census, an increase of 6.6 percent from 2,639 in 2000. Eufaula is in the southern part of the co ...

, on a farm near

Checotah, Oklahoma Checotah is a town in McIntosh County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named for Samuel Checote, the first chief of the Creek Nation elected after the Civil War. Its population was 3,481 at the 2000 census. According to Census 2010, the populat ...

. He started his education at Jenks before moving with his family to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and then, in 1949, to

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

, where he learned guitar and knew

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, one year his senior. In 1954, he moved back to

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

, Oklahoma, and soon he formed his own group, The Nitecaps, with

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ist John D. LeVan.Clyde Stacy at Black Cat Rockabilly
Retrieved 19 November 2013 Stacy was discovered by radio

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

Don Wallace, who became his manager and won a contract for Stacy with the Candlelight

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. In 1957, Stacy's first single, "So Young" backed with "Hoy Hoy", reached no. 68 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

, and became even more popular in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. "So Young" was banned by some radio stations because of the sexy female voice of Pat Peyton overdubbed onto the record by producer Woody Hinderling. Several of Stacy's later records, including "Baby Shame" (1958), originally recorded by

Little Willie Littlefield Willie Littlefield, Jr., billed as Little Willie Littlefield (September 16, 1931 – June 23, 2013), was an American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer whose early recordings "formed a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll". ...

, 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.Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine at Allmusic.com
Retrieved 19 November 2013 In 1958 he settled in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

. He continued to perform and tour, opening shows for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Patsy Cline Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...

and others, and appeared on ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

''. 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 Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

festivals across the US and in Europe, on occasions with old friend

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock a ...

. On November 6, 2013, Stacy was killed in a crash when he drove into the back of a truck near his home in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...

. "Early Oklahoma Rocker Clyde Stacy Dead at 77", Oklahoma Rock News, 14 November 2013
. Retrieved November 19, 2013
Retrieved November 19, 2013 He was 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stacy, Clyde 1936 births 2013 deaths American rockabilly guitarists American male guitarists People from Checotah, Oklahoma 20th-century American singers Singers from Oklahoma Road incident deaths in Oklahoma 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Oklahoma Country musicians from Oklahoma 20th-century American male singers