Who's he?

Give that man a cheroot!

Shel Silverstein: Playboy cartoonist, author of Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree, songwriter, playwright, poet, children's author.

Never hoid of him ...

(Pretty obscure, S2000. Unless everyone else is familiar with this fellow).

I suspect that most parents will know of him; his children's poetry books are quite popular. Indeed, my daughter was the one who suggested him.

Interestingly, one of the other members here PMed me on Monday with the correct answer. He said that he didn't want to answer here because he didn't have a name of his own to be able to take a turn.

I was thinking that we should compile a list of all of the names that have appeared here, to ensure that we don't duplicate a name that's already appeared.

Maybe I don't know him because I grew up in a different country?

As regards all the names: Cliff was kind enough to compile such a list recently. Perhaps you can PM him with a request?

You'll find the link to Cliff's downloadable list in one of his posts on page 149 of this topic.

While I am a parent and have The Giving Tree at home, I have to admit it was the Playboy cartoon clue that gave it away for me.

1. I'm the eighth of ten children

2. I was featured in a big studio movie, but it was a box office flop.

3. No problem, because later I secured the highest royalty rate within my real profession--37% of the wholesale profit of my product.

Billy Mayes

Not Billy.

4. I once teamed up with someone for business, but the relationship soured when I brought a llama to work.

That sounds like something Hunter S. Thompson would have done.

Not Hunter. For me, the fear and loathing came later.

5. For a while, every time Dion's "Runaround Sue" played, I would have to smile.

6. I did some world travel in 1992. At my first stop 100,000 people came to greet me.

7. My eight Grammys at one award ceremony was only duplicated by Santana.

Marvin (Michael) Lee "Meatloaf" Aday.

Not Mr. Loaf.

8. In 1994, I settled a case out of court for the tidy sum of 25 million.

9. Though I had passed on five years earlier, in 2014 I became the first artist to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades.

It's gotta be the King of Pop.

Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson is correct! He owned the rights to Runaround Sue as well as hundreds of other songs; flopped in the updated film of The Wiz; paid out in child molestation charges; and dominated the record industry for decades.

. . . including much of the Beatles' catalogue.

I hope that this one's less obscure; I've never tried to choose obscure people:

1. I was born in Texas.

2. I passed away far too young.

3. My best known rôle is as a character named Eric, though most people are unfamiliar with the character's given name.

Sorry to interject, S2000, but I thought you'd be interested in this update:

https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/paul-m......hts-win/

Thanks, Arthur. That's good news.