Rock ‘n’ roll was music for teenagers. That’s what was magic about it. The best of those ’50s and early ’60s singles are the ones that treat teenage concerns — life-altering crushes, soul-obliterating ...

Charles Westover might have been from Grand Rapids. But Del Shannon, the rock and roll legend, was "born" in Battle Creek. Del Shannon, Westover's stage name, came to be when he wrote and performed ...

Del Shannon never phoned it in. Best known for tortured early ’60s hits like “Runaway” and “Hats Off to Larry,” the Michigan-bred singer-songwriter combined the hard-living soul of a honky-tonk ...

Charles Westover was a military veteran making ends meet as a carpet salesman in Battle Creek while moonlighting as a musician at the city's Hi-Lo Club at the Gilbert Hotel. It was 1960, and Westover ...

Perhaps you remember Del Shannon. He's the guy who sang "Runaway" ("and I wonder where she will stay, my little runaway, my run-run-run-run-runaway..."), which was a No. 1 hit in 1961 and was later ...

As he surfaced in 1961, Shannon would inevitably become lumped in with contemporary US male teen-pop singers. Fair enough to a limited degree as he had the moodiness of Roy Orbison and the edge of ...

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. Rock ‘n’ roll ...