Largely forgotten today, Rod McKuen was once the most popular poet and singer/songwriter in the world. Although savaged and ridiculed by critics, academics, and literati, McKuen nevertheless sold 60 million books and 100 million records from 1965 through 1980, making him the best selling poet of all time. He was also a prolific songwriter and composer, a radio and television personality, a (closeted) gay activist, and a storyteller whose greatest fiction was himself. A touchstone of the 60s zeitgeist yet weirdly not really part of it, McKuen was equal parts a sincere romantic and a cynical huckster. In the 1980s He disappeared from public view into isolation and depression, living off his earnings until his death. For more information , check out:
https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/rod-mckuen-best-selling-poet-songs-what-happened.html
