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Ronnie ‘The Hawk’ Hawkins, a musician and impresario who helped uncover and develop The Band and quite a few different musical acts that emerged out of Toronto within the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, died round mid-day on Sunday.
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He was 87 and a pal reported the reason for loss of life as issues from outdated age.
Born in Arkansas in 1935, Hawkins began touring Canada as a musician within the late Fifties, and ultimately moved right here completely, residing in Mississauga and later in and round Peterborough.
Within the Nineteen Sixties, he performed an instrumental position within the flourishing Toronto music scene the place many distinguished artists together with Neil Younger, Joni Mitchell, the Band, Rick James, Gordon Lightfoot, Daniel Langois and others performed. In 2014, Hawkins grew to become one in every of only a handful of non-Canadians to be awarded the Order of Canada, for his contribution to Canadian music and his help of charitable causes, along with many different accolades together with a Juno Award.
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“Ronnie, he did loads for folks,” stated Nelson Thall, a longtime pal. “He was a expertise scout, he was a coach, he would assist them get the best sound and he was only a man for all seasons.”
Thall stated he met Hawkins at a membership on Toronto’s Yonge Avenue a while within the Nineteen Seventies. Oftentimes, Hawkins would carry out his personal music, after which hold across the bar, shopping for drinks for others as a result of he didn’t drink, Thall stated.
He described Hawkins as bigger than life, somebody who was equally comfy speaking to a watermelon farmer within the U.S. South as he was speaking to an mental like Thall, who studied with the Canadian thinker Marshall McLuhan, a College of Toronto Professor.
“Consider it or not, there was a thinker facet to him,” stated Thall, who stated he stayed up by way of Saturday evening into Sunday morning holding vigil. “I used to be as soon as with Ronnie, and hastily he broke into broke right into a line from Hamlet — “Converse the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue” — I imply, right here you might be, he gave the impression to be simply type of a Hayseed hillbilly from Arkansas, however wow, you recognize, hastily, Shakespeare.”
In 2003, Hawkins was recognized with pancreatic most cancers and given three months to reside, however by some means beat the sickness, attributing his restoration to various medicines and natural treatments.
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He could also be most well-known for serving to domesticate The Band, a gaggle of largely Canadian musicians hailing from Southwestern Ontario who began off as his again up group referred to as the Hawks, later backed Bob Dylan after which ultimately broke out on their very own.
Hawkins can be credited with serving to to find guitarist Pat Travers and lots of different musicians.
In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent a number of weeks at his dwelling in Mississauga, Ontario as a part of their world peace marketing campaign.
“He had his hand in so many alternative folks’s careers,” stated Eric Alper, a publicist in Toronto, who stated he met Hawkins whereas his grandfather owned Grossman’s Tavern, a musical venue within the metropolis. “He was a candy candy man, very type, and really very humorous. He’s most likely crucial determine with regards to Canadian rock and roll.”
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Hawkins was additionally an actor with roles in a number of notable movies. He performed Bob Dylan within the 1978 movie Renaldo and Clara, that was directed by Bob Dylan. He additionally performed roles in Heaven’s Gate (1980), Meatballs III: Summer time Job (1986), in addition to different films and TV collection.
Within the 1978 movie, The Final Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese, in regards to the final live performance carried out by The Band, Hawkins performed “Who Do you Love?,” “The Form I’m In” and on different tracks.
As a musician, he additionally had his personal hits. He helped write, and carried out ‘Mary Lou’ with the Hawks, which reached quantity 26 on the Billboard Prime 100 in the summertime of 1959.
In 2002, the Metropolis of Toronto honoured Rompin’ Ronnie, as he was typically referred to as, with a key to town and induction into Canada’s Stroll of Fame in recognition of his lifetime contribution to music and his beneficiant help of the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario and different charitable organizations.
Thall stated Hawkins might all the time provide you with a singular metaphor, like ‘That man appears like a bullfrog on the patio,’ or another humorous and homespun saying.
He stated Hawkins had lived on a ranch on Stony Lake, close to Peterborough, till promoting it a number of years in the past and shifting right into a home on quiet road within the metropolis of Peterborough.
He’s survived by his spouse Wanda and his three youngsters, Ronnie Hawkins Jr., Robyn Hawkins and Leah Hawkins; and 4 grandchildren.
Extra particulars to come back.
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