Discovering Dane Clark

February 29, 2024 by jayneanastasia Leave a comment

Imagine with me for a moment… one day, out of the blue, you discover one of your relatives has led a life that you could only dream of! They worked and played with some of the biggest celebrities of the day… and you had no idea! And then think what would you do if they left you boxes of items from that lifetime!

***Christian*** holding an expense book from ***Queen***‘s 1976 tour that was found amongst ***Dane***‘s things

Well, that’s exactly what happened to Christian Clark. His grandfather, Dane Clark, spent time with the likes of Elton John, Freddie Mercury and the band Queen. He worked with television stars of the day, and other household names that you would read about in gossip magazines. He was part of the jet-set that traveled on tour with bands, and worked at fancy venues backstage and on stage in glitzy places like Las Vegas.

Curious about this true life revelation? Well, let me introduce you to Christian as he shares the story of how he found out about the life of his grandfather, whose profession as a professional Hairdresser and Costume Keep he knew nothing of, and how now after receiving boxes of photos and memorabilia, he’s been inspired to honor his Grandpa Dane‘s memory in a special way!

First off, thank you Christian, for giving us some time to chat. When I first found out about your story, I was so intrigued, I just knew that others would find it fascinating as well! To get us started, can you tell us a little about yourself… your general background and what you do for a living?

My name’s Christian Clark, I am 26 years old and was born and raised in Oregon. I have a medical field background but have taken the last few years to help my wife with her photography business. We travel all over the country photographing weddings and elopements together. We have four animals, two dogs and two cats! If I’m not working or traveling, I’m probably out playing tennis!

If not too personal, how was it that you didn’t know about your Grandpa Dane‘s history? Did you have the opportunity to meet him before he passed, when you were around nine years old?

***Christian***‘s grandfather, ***Dane Clark***

My grandfather and I did have the opportunity to meet when I was young! Maybe 3 years old. I unfortunately don’t remember anything but I do have photos of him visiting! My parents separated when I was very young and then shortly after my father (Dane‘s only child) had some health concerns and passed unexpectedly. Dane passed the following year. From what I understand, Dane and my father never really told my mom about my grandpa‘s adventures. So after my dad and grandpa passed, that history stayed with that side of my family. My grandma (Dane‘s ex-wife and my dad’s mother) did know of these adventures but she never really shared that with me. It wasn’t until she gave me the boxes of my dad’s and grandpa’s things that I discovered his adventures for myself.

Do you have any background on Dane? I saw in one of your posted videos you stated that he had a dance background and was a Hairdresser by profession. Did your family (or someone close to him) eventually share things about him, other than his personal collection?

Since discovering Dane‘s legacy and putting it on social media, I have found tons of Dane‘s existing friends and even family I didn’t know I had! They have all been so helpful in putting the pieces together for me! I have had more conversations with my grandmother as well, after she gave me his things. I have had the privilege of hearing many stories and learning so much more about Dane from all of them!

Dane was born in California and always had a heart for theatre and the arts. He met my grandmother very young and moved to Oregon to be with her. They had my father and while here, Dane worked at our local theater doing Costume and Hair for productions. He was very talented!

My grandmother and Dane split when they were young and Dane found himself in Vegas chasing his dreams. He worked in clubs for a while doing Hair and Costumes as well as working Production and occasionally Dancing I was told.

It was in Vegas that he was offered a job opportunity working for upcoming artists at the time named Elton John and Kiki-Dee, and was then connected with Queen as well! He did multiple world tours as a Tour Coordinator and Personal Assistant to the bands. His job ranged from doing Hair and Wardrobe, picking up costumes, attending to the band members, chaperoning and so much more!

Dane not only worked with these iconic bands but he worked with many celebrities styling them for television specials and commercials like the Merv Griffin Show, Mrs. America Pageant, and the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

Was it a family member that had been taking care of his collection, or was it someone close to Dane who he had left his legacy to and they decided to pass it on to you?

From what I understand most of Dane‘s collection was gifted to my father. Dane was diagnosed with AIDS in the early 2000s and at the time he was trying to help my father take off with his own music company. My father was a very talented singer/songwriter and guitarist. When my father passed away unexpectedly, all of Dane and my dad’s things went to my grandma and siblings who are a bit older than me (my father has two other children from a past marriage.) I was young so I think my grandma was holding on to a lot of things for me to have when I got older. I know at one point there was a lot more in Dane‘s collection but other family got pieces of it as well!

With you losing your father when you were quite young, your connection from him to your grandpa was limited. How strange was it to have grandpa‘s history revealed to you from out of the blue? In this day and age of people researching their family through DNA tests, many are discovering their connections and it often is a very personal and deep experience for them. So for you to learn about your grandfather’s life and having all of these bigger than life experiences being revealed, that must have been quite the shock! How crazy for you was it when you found out?

Yes! Absolutely! Honestly it didn’t feel real to me, I had a hard time at first, grasping just how involved he really was! I had all these amazing items, but at first I was left with so many more questions then answers. I went though a lot of different stages but overall it’s been so incredibly fulfilling and inspiring. It’s been really healing and telling the family story makes me feel closer to them then I ever really thought was possible!

You mention in one of your videos, a quote from Dane citing his diary. Did you come into ownership of a diary? If so, was it limited to his time on tour? Were the entries enough to give you better insight and understanding of what Dane‘s schedule, experiences, and life in general were all about?

Yes! I did find a little diary in his things. It does have very limited entries but it goes into some of the details of when he was very first hired by Elton John. At first it was one of the only things I had to go off of for his experiences in his words so it was an amazing find! I do wish it went into more detail but like I mentioned, I have been lucky enough to have tons of people reach out to fill in missing gaps for me! In his things I did find Tour Itineraries as well and those are super interesting as they give every little detail about their travels while touring. Honestly everything is kind of like a big puzzle but once you put the pieces together you have this beautiful life story it’s pretty incredible!

***Dane*** styling ***Freddie Mercury***‘s hair

How familiar were you with the main bands, Queen and Elton John, before receiving the memorabilia? Obviously, you are from another generation, but is their music something you have listened to or is it from a genre that you haven’t followed musically yourself?

I definitely knew who they were. I think it’s nearly impossible to not know these iconic bands, even today you can go to a supermarket and hear Queen playing. I also had a lot of Rock influence growing up thanks to my dad who was a bit of a rock star and my mom who has always been a fan of Rock ‘n Roll too! I do have so much more appreciation for them though, once I discovered my grandfather‘s adventures with them.

I read where you stated that Dane had worked with various bands in this capacity for about ten years. Are you aware of who else he toured with, as well as any other celebrities he may have been a stylist for?

Yes, he spent about 10 years and worked on 15 albums with Queen, Elton John, and Kiki Dee. He did multiple world tours with these bands. He also got to work with some other celebrities such as Brooke Shields, Jerry Lewis, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Blair, Kaye Ballard, Michelle Lee, Rip Taylor, Leeza Gibbons, and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira).

Have you been able to contact or speak with any of the band members or associates from the various bands that Dane toured with?

I have been in touch with a few people! I have been connected to both Elton John and Queen‘s Archivists. I have also spoke with some members of the 70s Elton John Band. Then I also have connected with Dane‘s girlfriend who he also worked with, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira). I’m still staying optimistic that maybe I can speak directly to Sir Elton John or the existing members of Queen someday but if not that’s okay too. I definitely don’t share Dane‘s things or story for that reason.

What is your favorite piece of memorabilia? I’m sure that’s a loaded question as there are so many amazing items, but is there one that stood out for you as a real WOW factor when you found it in the storage boxes?

This is a hard one to answer! I think if I have a favorite it would have to be Dane‘s iconic Elton John jumpsuit he would wear backstage or the stage worn Elton John suspenders I have. Both kind of take my breath away and are super surreal pieces to have!

Can you share a little about what different types of items are in the collection?

Yes! The collection when I first found it was all just thrown in boxes, so I have organized it the best I can into sections. There are the signed pieces like photographs or papers with signatures from the band members. Tons of clothing pieces like Dane‘s tour T-shirts and jackets. I have lots of scrapbooks and photo albums from while he was on the road. There are tons of tour memorabilia like stage passes, vinyl stickers, tour books, and pins that were most likely being sold at concerts and Dane ended up with a lot of this stuff!

I also have concert posters, personal memorabilia from his travels like currency and coins from all over the world or invitations to big events like the Queen’s Jubilee. There is also still stuff we are trying to identify or that doesn’t really have a category such as little gifts from band members or the hotel keys he took from all his stays!

***Dane* wearing his jumpsuit while backstage with *Elton John***

Did you know right away that you wanted to try and preserve his legacy by doing something with the collection, as opposed to keeping it as a private collection?

Not at first. I took some time and I thought a lot about it and what I wanted to do with it all. It was when I first started trying to do research and find more info about Dane online that I realized there was such little mentioned about him. What I had found was saying he had a huge part in Rock ‘n Roll history but no one knew his name. That’s when I decided I was going to share his things and his story online. I hoped it would carry on his legacy and give him the recognition that I knew he deserved.

Please share with us the journey of the options you pursued as to how to share the collection, and how you came to the decision of self-publishing Dane Clark – The Lost Archives as a photobook?

Honestly There has been a lot of different opportunities and dead ends with this collection. The first thing I did was start a TikTok – DressingQueenOfficial – to begin sharing a little bit about Dane and his belongings. I posted consistently on there for about a year without much of an audience. Last year one of my videos went viral and my whole account gained a ton of traction. I had a lot of people reaching out to repost my videos or run stories but they just never really went anywhere. I started an Instagram and now that’s where I am posting the majority of the time. It’s a bit intimidating when you have something that people have deemed very valuable because I’m very aware that I need to be extremely safe and smart with my decisions with working with other individuals. Unfortunately there are so many scammers these days trying to take advantage of other’s success.

Hard Cover Copy of *Christian*‘s Book, *Dane Clark – The Last Archives*

My fan base has been asking for a while that I do something with the photos I constantly share, so I had actually asked them what they were interested in most and the answer was a table book. I decided to publish a lot of my grandfathers photos into an album and make it available for those who were interested.

I self published Dane Clark – The Lost Archives because I wanted it to be authentic and personal.

Will you share with us the experience of putting together the photo book… how much involvement did you have in the layout and deciding what items to use. How much of a project did it become, particularly for someone who just decided to take on the project with no prior experience of this type of thing?

The book is completely designed by my wife and I. We spent months going through photos, creating a digital archive then hand selecting and designing this photo book. It definitely was a learning experience because I had no prior experience with bookmaking. It was a challenge. We spent hours coming up with layout options and deciding ultimately what we loved the most and also thought the fan base would love. Since releasing the photo book we have had so many amazing recommendations to make the next one even better.

What would be your ideal situation for the collection? Have you considered donating to a museum, or do you currently feel that you would like to keep control over it so that you may insure Dane‘s legacy stays with him and not get lost in the general memorabilia of the bands? Have you actually pursued looking into anything, or has doing the photobook kept you busy up till now?

At first, my goal was to create a museum of sorts that people could come visit and enjoy Dane‘s things in person. I did a ton of research on this and reached out to lots of different museums to see if it was possible to do some type of traveling exhibit. I ran into a lot of dead ends with this. I have been in contact with museums, such as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Freddie Mercury Museum, but it seemed the common theme was no one was very interested. To create my own museum also showed its own challenges as getting funding and permission is extremely difficult. For now, I will continue to share Dane‘s items online and through my social media. I am optimistic that the right door will open if that is what is meant to be. Of all the things I do, I want to make sure it is the absolute best thing for the collection and what Dane would have wanted too.

It states on the website that the proceeds from the photobook are going towards the preservation of Dane‘s memorabilia. How overwhelming is it to feel responsible for such an amazing glimpse at Rock history? What type of processes have you found, if any yet, to aid in taking care of the items?

I will be honest, at first it was extremely intimidating because of my lack of knowledge on this subject. I also do not come from money, so I found that a lot of the things that the collection needed in order to survive time will take a lot of preservation efforts, and that costs a lot of money I didn’t have. My account currently does not generate much money from the social posts I make. Making this photobook has given the fanbase a physical item that they can purchase, and in return that allows me to utilize the funds in a way that I can preserve Dane‘s collection. One thing I love about social media is the connections you can make to talented and extremely intelligent people from all over the world. So many of my fans have been extremely helpful at recommending safe practices, and things/actions I can take in order to properly care for these items. I do feel an immense pressure to make sure that Dane‘s things are properly taken care of.

The photobook is listed as Vol. 1… do you have any plans for a second volume at this time?

Yes, we do! The first volume contained a lot of rare and unseen photos of Elton John, as well as rare photos of Queen. What I included though, was such a small dent in the photos I have from Dane’s adventures. My goal is to come out with a second volume featuring even more photos during Dane’s time traveling with the bands.

Well, Christian, what an experience this has been! Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Before we close, I’d like to share one of your YouTube videos that gives a brief overview of your collection and story! For those who would love to see more of the items, Christian shares regularly on Instagram, as well as TikTok and YouTube. You may also purchase Dane Clark – The Lost Archives by clicking on the book title, and I’m sure that Christian would be happy to help with any questions you may have regarding ordering.

Following the video, I’ve included our regular round of Fast Five questions, so make sure you scroll down to find Christian‘s answers to those super important questions!! Thanks again Christian, and we look forward to following along to see what else transpires in your adventures with Grandpa Dane and his legacy!