American Bandstand host had cut back on once-prolific television appearances since suffering a stroke in 2004
Dick Clark, a music television pioneer and icon of Americana, died Wednesday of a heart attack at 82.
Clark, whose youthful appearance earned him the nickname "America's oldest teenager", was a giant of a television producer who became one of the most influential men in pop music as the face of American Bandstand, which he hosted from 1956 until it went off the air in 1989.
His presence as host of New Year's Rockin' Eve, a show he created in 1972, was an annual fixture in the lives of millions for whom he'd count down the dropping of the Times Square ball.
Clark, whose appearances on television had been significantly cut back since suffering a major stroke in 2004, is survived by wife Kari and his three children, RAC, Duane and Cindy.
His agent, Paul Shefrin, said in statement that the veteran host died this morning following a "massive heart attack".
Born in Mount Vernon, New York, on November 30 1929, Richard Wagstaff Clark began a lifelong career trading in pop culture as a weatherman, when he would occasionally fill in as a teenager on the local radio station owned by his family.
A succession of bigger radio gigs would ultimately lead him to hosting his own television show.
In retrospect, the massive success of American Bandstand seemed inevitable. The formula was as simple as it was brilliant: good-looking young kids were filmed dancing to the most popular tunes of the day – just as rock and roll began exploding in popularity, changing the face of the culture along with it.
"Music is the soundtrack of your life," he was quoted as saying.
Clark wasn't the original host, but he will be the one forever associated with it for his ability to capture that evolving zeitgeist. American Bandstand provided the first national television appearances for the likes of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Chubby Checker.
"I don't make culture," he once said. "I sell it."
On the air, a genial and clean-cut Clark would introduce the hits and mingle with mega-stars and teens alike. At one point, no man had greater power to make a song into a hit than Dick Clark.
Off the air, he began producing the show, ultimately starting Dick Clark Productions in 1963. His company churned out hits such as $25,000 Pyramid, TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, the American Music Awards and, within a decade, New Year's Rockin' Eve.
In the final analysis, Dick Clark Productions is responsible more than 7,500 hours of television programming, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Included in that staggering figure are 30 series and 250 specials, as well as more than 20 movies for theatre and TV.
Throughout it all he maintained an unwaivering and uncanny business sense. (He didn't get famous because of his ear: he said in multiple interviews that his favorite style of music was disco.)
"I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I did this solely to keep music alive," he once told Rolling Stone. "To perpetuate my own career first and foremost, and secondly the music."
Ryan Seacrest, his frequent New Year's Eve co-host who was often considered Clark's heir-apparent, tweeted on Wednesday:
A man as beloved as he was prolific is being remembered Wednesday for his signature signoff: "For now, Dick Clark … so long."