No, Karnak, but very close!

I am generally considered to be the father of the Beat movement, although I actively disliked such labels.

After I died in 1969, my mother inherited most of my estate.

The journalist Charles Kuralt had a long-running TV show on CBS, the title of which was the same as my best-selling novel.

Jack Kerouac, On The Road.

Yes! It’s Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known as Jack Kerouac.

ADDITIONAL TRIVIA: Kerouac completed the first version of his novel “On the Road” during a three-week extended session of spontaneous confessional prose. He wrote the final draft in 20 days, with his wife supplying him with benzedrine, cigarettes, bowls of pea soup, and mugs of coffee to keep him going. Before beginning, Kerouac cut sheets of tracing paper into long strips, wide enough for a typewriter, and taped them together into a 120-foot long roll which he then fed into the machine. This allowed him to type continuously without the interruption of reloading pages. The resulting manuscript contained no chapter or paragraph breaks and was much more explicit than the version which was eventually published. Though "spontaneous," Kerouac had prepared long in advance before beginning to write. In fact, according to his Columbia professor and mentor Mark Van Doren, he had outlined much of the work in his journals over the several preceding years.

Your turn, Landmark!

1. My paintings and prints have been show in galleries across the US.

2. I was invited to a tea party at the White House.

3. I had a bad car accident caused by drag racing at 100mph.

James Dean

Not James, though he died in a car crash.

4. My Dad was an investment banker and I went to a fancy set of private schools--pretty much the opposite of what you might have thought given how I ended up.

5. It was probably fitting that I gave a speech at the inauguration of the new Virgin America airline.

6. Clue #1 was a bit of misdirection--while true, I'm much better known as a musician.

Musician + painting ... Willie Nelson?

Not Willie.

7. After a successful tour, I retired at the age of 50 from music because as I said, ""All rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire."

8. The most famous song I wrote was not exactly based on a Christmas carol, but another kind of carol.

These clues are starting to sound too familiar. You can't mean Grace Slick? We had her just a few turns ago.

Oh my, yes that's right. Sorry. I missed her!

I was born in 1945 in Lares, Puerto Rico, the fourth child of eleven sons.

When I was five, our family moved to Spanish Harlem, New York City, where my knack for music became apparent at age seven, when I taught myself to play the accordion. Two years later my father gave me my first guitar.

I would practice by myself in my room for up to 14 hours a day, and would learn by listening to 1950s rock and roll, records of classical guitarists, and jazz players. Andrés Segovia and Wes Montgomery were among my favorites.

As a teenager, I took classical guitar lessons with Harold Morris, a music teacher who had himself once been a student of Segovia. In a 1969 interview, I mentioned soul music in general, and Ray Charles and Sam Cooke in particular, as influences on my singing style.

At seventeen, in order to help support my family, I left high school, and started frequenting the coffee houses of Greenwich Village, "passing the hat" as my "salary" in those clubs where I was invited to play.

In 1963, while gaining recognition in pubs, clubs and coffee houses throughout the U.S. and Canada, I was unexpectedly discovered and signed to a record label. Later I recounted the story of doing an impression of Bob Dylan, only to find that Dylan was in the audience!

Carlos Santana

Not Carlos.

In 1964, after releasing my first single, I was invited to the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.

In 1965 and 1966, I released my first two albums. These records showcased my talent on radios across the US, inspiring Robert Shelton, the New York Times columnist, to describe me as a "10-fingered wizard.”

I successfully toured and recorded in South America, and also guested on a popular British television show with Dusty Springfield..

In 1967, in London's Speakeasy Club, Jimi Hendrix came to the stage and complimented me on my extraordinary guitar work.

Freddy Fender

Jose Feliciano?

You got it, Mark. José Monserrate Feliciano Garcia. His life has been quite interesting, as evidenced by my many remaining clues:

After two more successful albums, I moved to Los Angeles, where I recorded an album featuring cover versions of songs popularized by other artists, including -- among others -- The Mamas & the Papas, The Doors, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Tom Paxton, and The Beatles.

At the height of protests against the Vietnam War, I was invited to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Tiger Stadium in Detroit during Game 5 pre-game ceremonies of the 1968 World Series between the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. My personalized, slow, Latin jazz performance proved highly controversial and damaging to my career in the years that followed.

In 1969, I worked with Quincy Jones on the “Mackenna's Gold” movie soundtrack, recording the theme song. I also appeared on numerous US television shows, performing duets with Johnny Cash, Bing Crosby, Glen Campbell, Andy Williams, and Diana Ross.

During the 1970s, I acted and composed for television series and movies, including “McMillan & Wife”, “Kung Fu”, “Chico and the Man”, and the 1976 movie “Aaron Loves Angela”.

I’ve also been a guest performer on many albums by other artists, including Bill Withers, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Michael Nesmith, and I’ve given concerts with Carlos Santana, Cat Stevens, and Paul Simon.

In the 1980s and into the 1990s, I recorded duets with Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan, Chamaco Rivera, jazz singer Diane Schuur, and Paul Simon. In 1982, I played guitar on the DeBarge record “All This Love”. And in 1987, I gave two concerts in East Germany: One in Leipzig and another in East Berlin with the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester.

I received my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 1, 1987, galvanizing my high profile as a popular singer and celebrity. I was honored by the City of New York, which renamed Public School 155 after me. My hands were cast on Madame Tussauds Museum's Wall of Fame, and I and recorded and performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

When I became a father in 1988, in 1991, and again in 1995, I enjoyed staying closer to home. One notable exception was in 1996, when I made a cameo appearance in the film “Fargo” as a lounge singer.

In 2007, I appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman to perform the theme song from “Mackenna's Gold”. For several months prior, Letterman had been using a clip from the movie and song as a running gag.

In 2012, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I was invited to sing “God Bless America” for the seventh-inning stretch of the New York Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. And in 2018, I was invited by the Detroit Tigers baseball team to return to their field and perform the "Star-Spangled Banner" again as I had in 1968. This time around, my performance was met not with undertones of the hatred and hostility of 1968, but rather with the uproarious cheers of an enthusiastically grateful crowd.

2018 culminated with a Christmas performance at the Vatican to perform in their annual Christmas celebration. During our time in Rome, my son Jonathan and I were invited to attend a private audience with Pope Francis.

In 2019, I was invited to appear on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where they took their show on the road to Puerto Rico with composer, actor and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda. This was intended to show the world that the spirit and soul of Puerto Rico and her people are alive and well, and that the Island, ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017, is indeed, “Open for Business.“

Thus far, I have released over fifty albums worldwide, in both English and Spanish, and I’ve won seven Grammy Awards. All this, despite the fact that I was born blind.


You’re up, Mark … Please don’t make a habit of posting the correct answer, and then disappearing for days. It's not fair to keep all the other participants hanging like that.