Ronnie Dawson (11 August 1939 – 30 September 2003) was an American rockabilly singer, guitarist and drummer, nicknamed The Blond Bomber. Although he achieved regional success in the 1950s, his popularity peaked internationally with tours in the 1980s and 1990s.
Born Ronald Monroe Dawson in Dallas, Texas, his father Pinkie Dawson was the leader of a western swing band, the Manhattan Merrymakers. The family moved to Waxahachie. He learned to play guitar, bass and drums. He attended the Southern Bible Institute in Waxahachie before he was expelled. Dawson listened to rock and roll music and entered a local talent contest run by the Future Farmers of America, which he ended up winning.
He formed his first band, Ronnie Dee & the D-Men, in 1956, and appeared regularly on the Big D Jamboree radio show in Dallas. The group's first record, a version of Jack Rhodes' song "Action Packed" which had previously been recorded by Johnny Dollar, was issued in late 1958 on the Back Beat label. Dawson's voice gave the impression that he was several years younger than his actual age, and although he toured nationally with Gene Vincent and appeared on TV, the record gained no more than regional airplay. His second record, "Rockin' Bones", credited to Ronnie Dawson "The Blond Bomber", was released in 1959, and again failed to chart.
He performed with the well-established western swing group the Light Crust Doughboys for a time between 1957 and 1960 – releasing one single with the group and harmonica player Delbert McClinton, which was credited to Johnny & the Jills – before signing as a solo singer with Dick Clark's Swan label. Clark attempted to package him as a teen idol and he appeared on American Bandstand shortly before the payola scandal broke. Although his pop singles "Hazel" and "Summer's Comin'" achieved some popularity in Pittsburgh, Dawson later disowned the records.
Dawson returned to Texas, and worked as a session guitarist and drummer on Major Bill Smith's productions, including Bruce Channel's "Hey! Baby" and Paul and Paula's "Hey Paula". He also recorded unsuccessful singles under his own name and as Commonwealth Jones. In the mid-1960s he joined a folk music-based vocal group, the Levee Singers, who recorded three LPs featuring Dawson in the 1960s, and appeared on several networked TV shows. Recording for Maverick and their own Levee label, the group proved popular enough to warrant guest appearances on such network TV shows as the Danny Kaye Show, Jimmy Dean Show, Hollywood Palace, and Hootenanny. Primarily a banjo-dominated sing-along band, the group's popularity had ebbed by the end of the decade.
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During the early 1970s, Dawson formed Steel Rail, a progressive country-rock band in the style of Buffalo Springfield, which kept him working Southwestern clubs for more than a decade. Smartly, he supplemented his income playing a "good ol' boy" on commercial jingles for Hungry Jack biscuits, Aunt Jemima pancakes, Jax Beer, and Cici's Pizza.
In the 1980s, a resurgence of interest in rockabilly music, especially in England and through the revivalist recordings of the Cramps, whose recordings included "Rockin' Bones", led Dawson to tour Britain for the first time in 1986. Although he remained little-known in his native country, Dawson was hailed as a rock pioneer in England. Dawson sounded purer and wilder than any of his contemporaries from the 1950s and he put on a more energetic show.
He started recording new material for No Hit Records, the label of British rockabilly fan Barry Koumis, which was leased in the USA to Crystal Clear Records. No Hit also reissued his recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s on a 16-track LP called “Rockin’ Bones” (1987), an extended 2-CD version of which was released by Crystal Clear in 1996.
In 1986, he recorded three impressive albums: Monkey Beat!, Rockinitis, and Just Rockin'& Rollin'. Dawson recorded a live album, Live! at the Continental Club, in Austin, TX, in January 1998. In October 1998, he returned to the recording studio to record More Bad Habits (released in 1999), his first studio recording in the United States in nearly three decades. He toured widely in Europe and in the US, and several of his earlier recordings were included in movies. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1998.
Just as his career began to yield significant returns, health problems began to dog Dawson. Cancer of the tongue required rest and chemotherapy, but the indefatigable performer continued to perform as often as he could. In February of 2003, doctors told him that the cancer had spread to his lungs. Fans in the U.S. and abroad held benefit concerts to help him pay for medical costs. The Blonde Bomber finally succumbed on September 30, 2003. He was 64.
(Edited from Wikipedia, TIMS & AllMusic)