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Ronnie Hawkins

 


Rock and roll singer, bootleg merchant, manager, club owner, mentor and talent scout Ronald “Ronnie” Cornett Hawkins was born ingto a musical family in Huntsville, Arkansas on January 10, 1935. “Forty Days” was released in the UK first on EMI’s Columbia label No. 45-DB 4319 through their licencing deal with Roulette; subsequently the track was released on Sue LP ILP 933 “The Sue Story Vol 2”. 

He recorded more than 25 albums and was a key player in Ontario's music scene for many years. 

As a teenager he ran bootleg liquor from Missouri to Oklahoma, making $300 a day. The money helped him get into buying clubs. Clearly that was no problem for the Army in which he served for six months, having previous training in the ROTC. He was athletic and his act included back flips and the "camel walk" which was turned into the Moonwalk three decades later by Michael Jackson.

Despite surviving pancreatic cancer, which he attributed to help from a teenage faith healer, Mr. Hawkins sadly died in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, of unknown cause on 29 May 2022.

Image: Canadian Encyclopaedia 

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