TULSA, Okla. – Roy Clark, the legendary 'superpicker', GRAMMY, CMA and ACMaward winner, Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member and co-host of the famed 'Hee Haw' television series, died today at the age of 85 at home in Tulsa, Okla.  That he was raised in Washington, D.C., often surprises people. Born Roy Linwood Clark on April 15, 1933 in Meherrin, Virginia, his family moved to D.C. when he was a youngster.

Beginning on banjo and mandolin, he was one of those people "born with the music already in them."

Roy's many good deeds on behalf of his fellow man led to him receiving the 1999 Minnie Pearl Humanitarian of the Year Award from TNN's Music City News Awards. In October, 2000, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and he was actively involved with school children who attend the Roy Clark Elementary School in Tulsa, Okla.

From his home in Tulsa, where he moved in 1974 with Barbara, his wife of 61 years, Clark continued to tour extensively. For him — and for his legion of loyal fans — live performance was what it was all about. "Soon as you hit the edge of the stage and see people smiling and know they're there to hear you, it's time to have fun. I keep a band of great young people around me, and we're not musically restrained. It's not about 'let's do it correct' but 'let's do it right.'"

At the end of each of Roy's concerts, he would tell the audience, "We had to come, but you had a choice. Thanks for being here." With responding smiles, audiences continued to thank Roy for being there, too.

Roy is preceded in death by his beloved grandson Elijah Clark who passed at the age of fourteen on September 24, 2018. Roy is survived by Barbara, his wife of sixty-one years, his sons Roy Clark II and wife Karen, Dr. Michael Meyer and wife Robin, Terry Lee Meyer, Susan Thomson and Diane Stewart, and his grandchildren: Brittany Meyer, Michael Meyer, Caleb Clark, Josiah Clark, Scott Fearington and his sister, Susan Coryell.