Ronnie Hawkins

Ronnie Hawkins  (born January 10, 1935) is a rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century.  Though his career began in Arkansas, US, where he’d been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life.  His hit songs included covers of Chuck Berry’s “Thirty Days” (entitled “Forty Days” by Hawkins) and Young Jessie’s “Mary Lou”, a song about a “gold digging woman”.  He also played a pivotal role in the establishment of premiere backing musicians via his band, The Hawks.  The most successful of those eventually formed The Band, while other musicians Hawkins had recruited provided the makings of Janis Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band.  (More from Wikipedia)