He was 72.
His daughter Katy wrote on Facebook: "On January 11th
our beloved father Jimmy O'Neill peacefully transitioned into a better place.
His vivacious laugh, talented voice, sense of humor and warm heart will be
deeply missed by all who knew and loved him. His legacy will live on and he
will never leave our hearts. Thank you to all our friends and family for all of
your support during this difficult time. Blessings."
He suffered for many years with a heart condition and
diabetes.
Shindig! aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January
8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at
the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and
production executive Art Stolnitz.
Shindig! was conceived as a short-notice replacement for
Hootenanny, a series that had specialized in folk revival music. The folk
revival had fizzled in 1964 as the result of the British Invasion, which
damaged the ratings for Hootenanny and prompted that show's cancellation.
Shindig!'s premiere episode was a pilot featuring Sam Cooke
and the The Righteous Brothers. Later shows were taped in Britain with The
Beatles as the guests. The series featured other "British invasion"
bands and performers including The Who, The Rolling Stones and Cilla Black.
Shindig continued to broadcast episodes from London throughout its run.
Many popular performers of the day played on Shindig! including
Lesley Gore, Bo Diddley, and Sonny and
Cher, The Beach Boys, James Brown and The Ronettes.
Shindig!'s success prompted NBC to air the similar series
Hullabaloo starting in January 1965.
In March 1965, Little Eva who had the hit song 'Locomotion'
performed a Live but short version of the song and is the only known video clip
to exist of her singing it.
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