Ronnie Hawkins, the Canadian rockabilly singer known as “the Hawk”, who mentored the band and played with rock greats, died Sunday morning. He was 87 years old.
“He went quietly and looked as handsome as ever,” his wife, Wanda Hawkins, told the Canadian press. The cause of death was not immediately available.
Although he was born in Arkansas, Hawkins called Canada home for most of his career. and was considered a formative influence on the evolution of the country’s rock scene thanks to his passion for southern blues.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hawkins played with a backing band called the Hawks, which included Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel. In 1963, the Hawkins split from Hawkins. Eventually, they became Bob Dylan’s backing band. And then just The Band.
In a Rolling Stone profile from the early days of The Band as the Hawks, then-teen Robbie Robertson explained how Hawkins helped shape his craft:
“When the music got a little too far for Ronnie’s ear,” Robbie recalls, “or he didn’t know when he was going to sing, he told us that no one but Thelonious Monk could understand what we were playing. But most importantly with him. “It made us rehearse and practice a lot. We often played until one in the morning and then rehearsed until four. And I practiced non-stop; I could go there until my fingers were raw.” I was interested in doing what other people couldn’t do; I really wanted to be good. “
Decades later, Robertson would thank Hawkins again during the opening speech of the 1994 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “We should thank Ronnie Hawkins for being so important in bringing us together and teaching us the ‘ road code ‘, so to speak, “Robertson said.
Hawkins joined the group in the 1978 Martin Scorsese classic The last waltz.
Hawkins, always more of a live dynamo than a studio musician, achieved hits with versions of “Who Do You Love?” of Bo Diddley. and “Thirty Days” by Chuck Berry (Hawkins titled his cover “Forty Days”).
Unlike many of his fellow musicians, Hawkins never returned to the United States full-time (although he retained his citizenship). His love for his chosen land was one of the cornerstones of his reputation.
Hawkins has received several prestigious Canadian music awards throughout his career, including a Juno Award for Male Country Vocalist of the Year in 1982 and the Junos Career Awards (1996) and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. (SOCAN) in 2007.
Perhaps because of his dual citizenship and great personality, Hawkins was natural in bringing together different genres and musicians. As the CBC noted, he recorded with everyone, from Duane Allman to The happy prostitute author Xaviera Hollander and played Bob Dylan in the 1978 Dylan Failure Renaldo and Clara.
“If the world had more people like Ronnie Hawkins, we’d make each other less stupid, we’d make fewer people, we’d make a lot more laughs,” Bill Clinton said in the 2004 documentary. Hawkins: Still alive and kicking. “I’ve never met anyone like him.”