Clarence White | |
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![]() White in 1970 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Clarence Joseph LeBlanc |
Born | June 7, 1944 Lewiston, Maine, U.S. |
Died | July 15, 1973[1] Palmdale, California, U.S. | (aged 29)
Genres | Bluegrass, country, country rock, rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, mandolin, vocals |
Years active | 1954–1973 |
Labels | Sundown, Republic, Briar International, World Pacific, Bakersfield International, Columbia, Warner Bros. |
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973)[1] was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer.[2][3] He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s.[3] White also worked extensively as a session musician, appearing on recordings by the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker,[4] Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman,[5] Gene Clark,[3] Linda Ronstadt,[6] Arlo Guthrie,[7] and Jackson Browne among others.[8]
Together with frequent collaborator Gene Parsons, he invented the B-Bender, a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone and emulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. White was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016, and was inducted a second time in 2019 as a member of the Kentucky Colonels.