Died On This Date (March 22, 1991) Dave Guard / The Kingston Trio
themusicsover Donald “Dave” Guard
November 19, 1934 – March 22, 1991
Dave Guard was an influential American folk singer, best remembered as a founding member of the Kingston Trio. Formed in 1957, the group helped launch the folk revival of the ’60s while becoming one of the first groups to enjoy big sales on the LP format. Their first hit single, “Tom Dooley” is considered one of the most important songs of the era. Artists like Brian Wilson, Joan Baez, Lindsey Buckingham, Jimmy Buffet, and Tim Buckley have all been cited as having been influenced by the Kingston Trio. Guard left the group in 1961 and formed the Whiskeyhill Singers who released one album and sang a handful of songs on the soundtrack for How The West Was One. After the Whiskeyhill Singers, Guard kept busy working with other artists while writing and recording music. He all but retired from the public eye during the final two decades of his life, making only a few local public appearances and Kingston Trio semi-reunions. On March 22, 1991, Dave Guard died of lymphoma. He was 56 years old.
What You Should Own
One of nine siblings, Mark Dinning recycled an old song written by one of his sisters (of the Dinning Sisters) and turned it into an early rock ‘n’ roll hit. That song was “Teen Angel” which is one of those classic tragedies that tells the chilling story of a young lover killed when her car is stalled on the train tracks. It went to #1 on the Billboard charts even though some stations felt it was too morbid to play. Dinning died of a heart attack at age 52.
