Songwriters Hall of Fame

Folk-rock group The Byrds was formed in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, with founding members James Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, and Mike Clarke. All except Clarke had a folk music background.

Their professional debut was in March of 1965 and two months later the group’s first success came with a cover of the Bob Dylan penned song “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The song reached #1 in 1965 and remained on the charts for 13 weeks. Three months later they released “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is Season)” which also hit #1 on the pop charts.

In 1968 the group was re-formed with Kevin Kelly and Gram Parsons who replaced Clarke and Crosby who had left the group in 1966 and 1967, respectively. The group was again re-formed by McGuinn in 1969 with Clarence White, John York and Gene Parsons.

The Byrds were a voice for a generation during the Vietnam, recording over 15 top twenty hit recordings including “All I Really Want to Do,” “My Back Pages” and “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” all written by Bob Dylan.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.