DICK CLARK

American Bandstand, the 1957 - 1989 musical TV television series hosted by Dick Clark. Clark was a television and radio personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting American Bandstand from 1956 to 1989. The show started as a local program in Philadelphia called Bandstand (or Philadelphia Bandstand) in 1952 and Clark took over as the permanent host in 1956, and the show went national as American Bandstand in 1957. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, Iggy Pop, Prince, Talking Heads, and Madonna. Clark also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid game show from 1973 to 1988 and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 82.