"Ronnie Hawkins, born January 10, 1935 in Huntsville, Arkansas, United States, is a pioneering rock and roll musician. (He should not be confused with Canadian indie rock singer-songwriter Ron Hawkins.)
At the age of nine, his family moved to nearby Fayetteville. After graduating from high school, he studied physical education at the University of Arkansas where he formed his first band, "The Hawks," touring with them throughout Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. His band helped launch such talented artists as Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson. Hawkins owned and operated the Rockwood Club in Fayetteville where some of Rock music's earliest pioneers came to play including Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty.
Known for his early work with "The Band," he is most often referred to as Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins or "The Hawk." In 1958, he went to Canada where he made Peterborough, Ontario his permanent home. For the past 40 years, he been performing all over North America and has recorded over 25 albums. His best-known hits are "Forty Days" and "Mary Lou." His 1984 LP, 'Making It Again', garnered him a Juno Award as Canada's best Country Male Vocalist. Playing with The Band, Hawkins helped tear down the Berlin Wall in 1989 and performed at President Bill Clinton's 1992 inaugural party. In addition to his music, he has also become an accomplished actor hosting his own television show "Honky Tonk" in the early 1980s and appearing in such films as Heaven's Gate with his friend Kris Kristofferson and Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II."
I loved "Who Do You Love" the first time I heard it, played on a friends Dansette record player back in the early 60's. It must have the most blood curdling screams in rock 'n roll on it and some of the greatest guitar licks by a very young Robbie Robertson who was to find fame later in The Band." Horace" too is very memorable for its humour and crazy lyrics. In fact the whole LP on Roulette (1970) of re-issues from the 50's is great.
More about Ronnie Hawkins at his official website which you can find HERE.
Ronnie Hawkins - Who Do You Love
Ronnie Hawkins - Horace
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6 comments:
HOORAY ! HAIL TO THE BRAVE KING HAWKINS !
Cheers Michael !
I was happy to find the original of "Mary Lou," since it mentions my home town and is cooler that that Glen Miller song that also mentions my home town.
"She left me stranded in Kalamazoo..."
The song was later covered by Frank Zappa and the Oblivians.
Just showing off...
Thanks Rev Frost. Not sure what song you are referring to swag? Mary Lou?
Cool blog keep it up.
for some odd reason my original comment here seems to have disappeared.
ghosts in the blog cogs maybe?
glad to see 'The Hawk' being remembered. A true forgotten legend.
I get spanners in the blog cogs all the time. yesterday i spent nearly an hour trying to upload that Prince Buster article and tracks etc. and everything seemed to go wrong that could! Even now as I look at it I see several mistakes of punctuation and spelling which is very annoying! I tried to correct them and nothing happened! Blogging can be a very frustrating medium at times!
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