Dale Hawkins

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dale Hawkins , born as Delmar Allen Hawkins , (born August 22, 1936 in Goldmine , Louisiana , † February 13, 2010 in Little Rock , Arkansas ) was an American rock 'n' roll singer and guitarist who often is known as the inventor of swamp rock .

His music was influenced by Elvis Presley's rock and roll style and Scotty Moore's guitar sound . He mixed this sound with the Blue Sound , based in Louisiana black musicians and invented so the Swamp rock classic Susie Q .

Life

Childhood and youth

Hawkins was born in Goldmine, Louisiana, which is about 30 miles from Ferriday. Hawkins' mother was a teacher in the community's small school while his father played in various country bands. Hawkins' brother Jerry later also pursued a career as a musician. In 1939 the parents divorced and Hawkins graduated from Bossier City high school. Musically he was influenced during this time by the country blues of the Afro-American population. Hawkins worked with many blacks in the cotton fields and also played music with them during breaks. At 16, he signed up for the United States Navy .

Career

After his military service, Hawkins lived in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he worked in Stan Lewis ' record store during the day and studied the current rhythm and blues records. In the evenings he played mostly blues in the clubs of Bossier City (which is not far from Shreveport on the other side of the Red River ).

Motivated by the success of his friend Bobby Charles , who had a hit on Chess Records with Later Aligator , he recorded a number of tracks in a nightly session in 1956 with brothers John and Al Jones in the KWKH studio, including See You Soon Baboon . Stan Lewis took on Hawkins as a manager and brought the titles to Leonard Chess, owner of the Chess label, the See You Soon Baboon released along with Four Letter Word in July 1956 on his sub-label Checker Records . However, the single was not particularly successful.

Hawkins still performed in the clubs around Shreveport and Bossier City in 1957. He and his band had been working on the song Suzie Q for a long time . At this time, Hawkins was also heavily influenced by Elvis Presley and his guitarists Scotty Moore and Roy Buchanan, but he still had a strong connection to the blues. Suzie Q was recorded in 1957, again at the KWKH studio, with Hawkins' band and guitarist James Burton . Hawkins again sent the tapes to Chess, the Suzie Q published. It took some time, but ultimately the song moved up to number seven on the R&B charts and number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 . The title is considered to be groundbreaking for Swamp Rock and influenced the band Creedence Clearwater Revival , which recorded a cover version of the piece.

Hawkins was able to repeat his success in the following years. In 1958 he achieved another chart success with La-Do-Dada (32nd place), but he could not establish himself at the national level. He stayed with Checker Records until 1962, then moved to Tilt Records for a year and then recorded a few more neglected singles.

In the 1960s he worked for various labels as a producer and A&R manager. Among the many productions were albums from Uniques , Five Americans , Ronnie Self , James Bell and Harry Nilsson . In 1999 new material from Hawkins appeared for the first time with the album Wildcat Tamer , which received positive reviews in the specialist press. Other albums followed, such as Back to Louisiana from 2007.

Dale Hawkins was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, which he succumbed to in Little Rock, Arkansas, in February 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/dhawkins.htm
  2. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/arts/music/18hawkins.html

Web links