RONNIE HAWKINS

Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins, OC, (born January 10, 1935) is an American rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, where he was born and raised. He found success in Ontario, Canada, and he settled there for most of his life. He is considered highly influential in the establishment and evolution of rock music in Canada.

Also known as "Rompin' Ronnie", "Mr. Dynamo", or simply "The Hawk", he was one of the key players in the 1960s rock scene in Toronto. Throughout his career, Hawkins has performed all across North America and recorded more than twenty-five albums. His hit songs included covers of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" (entitled "Forty Days" by Hawkins) and Young Jessie's "Mary Lou", a song about a "gold-digging woman".Other well-known recordings are "Who Do You Love?", "Hey Bo Diddley", and "Susie Q", which was written by his cousin, rockabilly artist Dale Hawkins.

Hawkins is also notable for his role as something of a talent scout and mentor. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of premiere backing musicians via his band, the Hawks. The most successful of those eventually formed The Band, while other musicians Hawkins had recruited provided went on to form Robbie Lane and the Disciples,[3] Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band, Crowbar, Bearfoot, and Skylark.

Hawkins was born in 1935 in Huntsville, Arkansas, two days after the birth of Elvis Presley. When he was nine years old, his family moved to nearby Fayetteville, Arkansas. After graduating from high school, he studied physical education at the University of Arkansas, where he formed his first band, the Hawks. He toured with them throughout Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Hawkins also owned and operated the Rockwood Club in Fayetteville, where some of rock and roll's earliest pioneers came to play including Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty.

On advice from Conway Twitty,Hawkins began touring Canada in 1958. His first gig there was at the Golden Rail Tavern in Hamilton, Ontario, where he became an overnight success. Hawkins decided to move to Canada, and in 1964 became a permanent resident, eventually making Peterborough, Ontario, his home.

After the move, the Hawks, with the exception of Hawkins and drummer Levon Helm, dropped out of the band. Their vacancies were filled by Canadians Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson, all hailing from Southwestern Ontario. Helm and the rest of those Hawks would leave Hawkins in 1964 to form an act of their own, which eventually came to be named The Band.

In December 1969, Hawkins hosted John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a stay at his home in Mississauga, Ontario, during the couple's campaign to promote world peace. Lennon signed his erotic "Bag One" lithographs during his stay there. Lennon also did a radio promo for a Hawkins single, "Down in the Alley".

In the early 1970s, Hawkins noticed guitarist Pat Travers performing in Ontario nightclubs and was so impressed with the young musician that he invited him to join his band. Travers later had a very successful recording career and became one of the most influential guitarists of the 1970s hard rock genre.

Bob Dylan was a long-time admirer. In an amphetamine-fueled encounter with Keith Richards in a Mayfair nightclub in May 1966, Dylan started a fight by claiming

You guys may be the best philosophers man, but the Hawks – they're the best band. I could'a written Satisfaction – easy. But there's no fucking way you guys could'a written Mr Tambourine Man. You know that? Think about it.

In 1975, Dylan cast Hawkins to play the role of "Bob Dylan" in the movie, Renaldo and Clara.[6] The following year he was a featured performer at the Band's Thanksgiving Day farewell concert, which was documented in the 1978 film The Last Waltz.[7] His 1984 LP, Making It Again, garnered him a Juno Award as Canada's best Country Male Vocalist. 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.

On January 8, 1995, Hawkins celebrated his 60th birthday by throwing a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, which was documented on the album Let It Rock. The concert featured performances by Hawkins, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Band and Larry Gowan. Jeff Healy sat in on guitar for most, if not all, of the performances. Hawkins's band, the Hawks, or permutations of it, backed most, if not all, of the acts. All of the musicians performing that night were collectively dubbed "the Rock 'n’ Roll Orchestra".[citation needed]

Ronnie Hawkins's star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

In 2002, October 4 was declared "Ronnie Hawkins Day" by the city of Toronto as he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, in recognition of his lifetime contribution to music and his generous support of the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario and other charitable organizations. Hawkins was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame at the Canadian Music Industry Awards on March 4, 2004. His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

In recent years, Hawkins battled pancreatic cancer. His current state of health, attributed to everything from psychic healers to native herbal medicine,[8] is featured in the film Ronnie Hawkins: Still Alive and Kicking.

In 2005, he was awarded an honorary degree from Laurentian University. On May 2, 2013, Hawkins was made an Honourary Officer of the Order of Canada. He was invested on May 7, 2014. The citation read:

For his contributions to the development of the music industry in Canada, as a rock and roll musician, and for his support of charitable causes. For more than 50 years, musician Ronnie Hawkins has demonstrated a strong devotion to Canada’s music industry. Often referred to as the “father of Canadian rock n’ roll”, he was a key player in the 1960s rock scene, with his band The Hawks serving as a launching pad for a host of Canadian musicians. In addition to producing scores of singles and albums, he has performed in support of many charitable causes, notably the Peterborough Flood Relief and the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario.[10]

Hawkins recently reissued most of his albums on CD through Unidisc Music Inc.

               

                               
                

Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show. May 09, 1959. This is one of the most requests for a re-post. Unfortunately this episode has the worst audio ever. The entire Western show has a muffled sound and at times a high ratio hiss. It's an out of this world performance, but just poor audio. I hope the repost is a little more enjoyable.

                 

         

Here's a very early color performance of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks from 1960 with the great Levon Helm on drums. The Reelin' In The Years library contains hours of iconic performances from many of the great artists of the 50s, including Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, the Platters, the Big Bopper and many more.

Reelin' In The Years Productions houses the world's largest library of music footage, containing over 20,000 hours of material covering nearly every genre from the last 60 years. We have live concerts, TV appearances, interviews, in-studio segments, b-roll and more. In addition to music we have thousands of hours of interviews with the most recognizable celebrities, comedians, politicians, athletes, artists and authors of the 20th Century. If you need footage for your film, documentary, TV show, commercial, museum exhibit or presentation, we are your one-stop shop. Visit our online database at http://www.reelinintheyears.com to explore our archive, but please email us as we are constantly adding new material to the archive. We do not supply material to fans or collectors under any circumstance, so please do not contact us if that is your intention.

                     
            

DE LA PELICULA THE LAST WALTZ , acompañado del grupo THE BAND cuyo batería ..... LEVON HELM había acompañado siempre a Ronnie con THE HAWKS ! junto a ROBBIE ROBERTSON  a la guitarra : 

Robbie Robertson entró en The Hawks, un grupo de rockabilly liderado por Levon Helm y acompañante del cantante Ronnie Hawkins, como bajista en 1960. Tras la marcha del guitarrista Fred Carter Jr., Robertson pasó a tocar la guitarra, dejando el puesto de bajista al recién contratado Rick Danko como sustituto del también saliente Rebel Paine. A lo largo de los años, las continuas bajas y sustituciones en The Hawks acabaron por configurar la que sería la formación definitiva del grupo, con la contratación final de Richard Manuel como pianista y, por último, de Garth Hudson como organista.

Con The Hawks, Robertson consiguió una importante reputación como guitarrista en la escena musical de Toronto y la Costa Este de Estados Unidos, debido a extensas jornadas con conciertos y ensayos bajo la tutela personal de Hawkins. Sin embargo, la perseverancia y el carácter dictatorial de Hawkins, capaz de multarles si llevaban chicas a los conciertos o fumaban marihuana, llevó a The Hawks a separarse de Hawkins en 1964. Al respecto, Robertson comentó: «Con el tiempo, [Hawkins] nos fue construyendo hasta el punto de que superábamos su música y tuvimos que dejarle. Se disparó en el pie, gracias a Dios, al convertirnos en un grupo tan completo que tuvimos que ir a nuestro mundo, porque sabíamos cuál era su visión personal, y nosotros éramos jóvenes y ambiciosos».

Tras la ruptura con Hawkins, el grupo cambió en varias ocasiones su nombre, primero por el de Levon and The Hawks, luego por el de The Canadian Squires, y decantándose finalmente por The Hawks.Bajo el nombre de The Canadian Squires grabaron dos canciones compuestas por Robertson, «Leave Me Alone» y «Uh Uh Uh» y como Levon and The Hawks otros dos temas a comienzos de 1965, «He Don't Love You» y «The Stone That I Throw».