Ronnie Hawkins was a rock star from Arkansas who became a patron of the Canadian music scene after moving north. He start signing up local musicians later known as The Band. He died at the age of 87.
His wife Wanda confirmed to The Canadian Press that Hawkins died on Sunday morning after an illness. she said “He went peacefully and he looked as handsome as ever,”
He was born just 2 days after Elvis Presley who was the Huntsville native friend called “The Hawk” and he also nicknamed himself “The King of Rockabilly” and “Mr. Dynamo” and was a hell-raiser with a big jaw and a stocky build.
Ronnie Hawkins Who Found Fame in Canada and Mentored the Band Dies
Ronnie Hawkins had minor hits in the 1950s with “Mary Lou” and “Odessa” and ran a club in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where acts included early rock stars such as Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Conway Twitty.
Greil Marcus wrote in his book about music and American culture that “Hawkins is the only man I ever heard who can make a nice sexy song like ‘My Gal is Red Hot’ sound sordid, Mystery Train,”
Further add “The Hawk” was alleged to “know more back roads, backrooms, and backsides than any man from Newark to Mexicali.
He first performed in Canada in the late ’50s and realized that he would stand out in far more countries. Canadian musicians had moved to the U.S. to promote their careers, but Hawkins was the rare American to try the reverse. ( Source- Google)