Ronnie Dawson

Born in Dallas as an only child and raised in Waxahachie, Texas, Ronnie Dawson grew up under the influence of his father, swing bandleader Pinky Dawson. While still a teenager he formed Ronnie Dee and the D Men and captured first place at the Big D Jamboree in Dallas for ten consecutive weeks. Through an association with Gene Vincent’s manager, Ed MacLemore, he came within reach of national recognition as a rockabilly guitarist and vocalist. His earliest singles, “Action Packed” backed with “I Make the Love” and “Rockin’ Bones,” issued under the billing “The Blonde Bomber—Ronnie Dawson,” moved briskly in regional markets and earned him a deal with Dick Clark’s Swan imprint along with a slot on American Bandstand. Although the Swan recordings were favorably received, they presented Dawson as a polished, countrified teen idol instead of the unrestrained rockabilly performer he had been. The late-1950s payola investigations abruptly ended that chapter when Clark shuttered the label, leaving Dawson without a contract. A 1961 Columbia release, “Do Do Do” coupled with “Who’s Done Been Here,” issued pseudonymously as Commonwealth Jones, failed to restore momentum. Thereafter he worked primarily as a sideman, traveling with the Light Crust Doughboys and supplying drums for Paul & Paula’s “Hey Paula” and Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby.” During the 1960s he joined the Dallas-based Levee Singers; in the following two decades he performed with the country-rock outfit Steelrail and supplied jingles for Hungry Jack pancakes, Jax beer, and CiCi’s Pizza. Largely overlooked at home, Dawson found enthusiastic audiences in England. In 1986 he signed with the British No Hit label and completed three albums—Monkey Beat!, Rockinitis, and Just Rockin’ & Rollin’—while the same company issued a retrospective titled Rockin’ Bones. He captured a live performance at Austin’s Continental Club in January 1998 and returned to the studio that October to cut More Bad Habits, released the next year and marking his first American studio album in nearly thirty years. The renewed attention that began in the mid-1980s placed his name and songs in unexpected settings. A 1995 appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien signaled the turnaround. In 1998, the same year he recorded More Bad Habits, his composition “Yum, Yum, Yum” appeared in Mike Nichols’s film Primary Colors and Izzy Stradlin of Guns n’ Roses covered “Up Jump the Devil.” Two tracks from the album surfaced the following year in the movie Simpatico. Although the tour supporting More Bad Habits was billed as his final rockabilly outing, Dawson continued to play festivals and special events. Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002, he received support from benefit concerts staged across the United States and abroad. The Blonde Bomber died on September 30, 2003, at the age of 64.