Hawkshaw Hawkins
Hawkshaw Hawkins | |
---|---|
Birth name | Harold Franklin Hawkins |
Also known as | "The Hawk" "Eleven Yards of Personality" |
Born | Huntington, West Virginia, U.S. | December 22, 1921
Died | March 5, 1963 Camden, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 41)
Genres | Country, honky-tonk |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, musician |
Instrument(s) | Guitar |
Years active | 1938–1963 |
Labels | King Records Columbia Records RCA Camden |
Harold Franklin "Hawkshaw" Hawkins (December 22, 1921 – March 5, 1963)
Biography
Harold Hawkins was born on December 22, 1921, in Huntington, West Virginia, United States.[1] He gained his nickname as a boy after helping a neighbor track down two missing fishing rods: the neighbor called him "Hawkshaw" after the title character in the comic strip, Hawkshaw the Detective. He traded five trapped rabbits for his first guitar, and performed on WCMI-AM in Ashland, Kentucky. At 16, he won a talent competition and a job on WSAZ-AM in Huntington, where he formed Hawkshaw and Sherlock with Clarence Jack. They moved to WCHS-AM in Charleston, West Virginia, in the late 1930s.[1] In 1940, at 19, he married Reva Mason Barbour, a 16-year-old from Huntington.[2]
During 1941, Hawkins traveled the United States with a musical revue. He entered the
Postwar success
After he was discharged, Hawkins became a regular on
Because of his height of six feet, five inches and his outgoing personality, he was christened "Eleven Yards of Personality".[3]
In 1951, Hawkins and his wife adopted four-year old Susan Marlene. They divorced in 1958 and Susan traveled back and forth between her parents in summers and for holidays.
Beginning in 1954, Hawkins was a regular performer on
Aircraft accident
On March 3, 1963, Hawkins, Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas performed at a benefit concert at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, for the family of disc jockey "Cactus" Jack Call, who had died in January after an automobile accident. Among the performers was Billy Walker, who received an urgent phone call and needed to return to Nashville immediately. Hawkins gave Walker his commercial airline ticket and instead flew back in a private plane in Walker's place.
On March 5, Hawkins, Cline and Copas left for Nashville in a
Hawkins was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, in Music Row with Copas and other country music stars.
Legacy
The location of the airplane crash in the still-remote forest outside Camden is noted by a stone marker, dedicated on July 6, 1996.
Hawkins is remembered in "Love Never Dies" on
Discography
Albums
- 1958: Hawkshaw Hawkins Sings Grand Ole Opry Favorites, Vol. 1 (King)
- 1958: Hawkshaw Hawkins Sings Grand Ole Opry Favorites, Vol. 2 (King)
- 1959: Hawkshaw Hawkins (La Brea)
- 1959: Hawkshaw Hawkins Sings Grand Ole Opry Favorites, Vol. 3 (King)
- 1959: Country Western Cavalcade (Gladwynne)
- 1963: Taken from Our Vaults, Vol. 1 (King)
- 1963: Taken from Our Vaults, Vol. 2 (King)
- 1963: The All New Hawkshaw Hawkins (King)
- 1963: The Great Hawkshaw Hawkins (Harmony)
- 1964: Hawkshaw Hawkins Sings Hawkshaw Hawkins (RCA Camden)
- 1964: Taken from Our Vaults, Vol. 3 (King)
- 1965: Gone, but Not Forgotten (Starday)
- 1966: The Country Gentlemen (RCA Camden)
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions[5] | |
---|---|---|---|
US Country | US | ||
1946 | "After All (That We Have Meant to Each Other)" | — | — |
1947 | "Sunny Side of the Mountain" | — | — |
1948 | "Pan American" | 9 | — |
"Dog House Boogie" | 6 | — | |
1949 | "I Wasted a Nickel" | 15 | — |
1951 | "I Love You a Thousand Ways" | 8 | — |
"Rattlesnakin' Daddy" | — | — | |
"I'm Waiting Just for You" | 8 | — | |
"Slow Poke" | 7 | 26 | |
1954 | "Waitin' for My Baby" | — | — |
"Rebound" | — | — | |
1955 | "Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)" (w/ Rita Robbins) | — | — |
"Car Hoppin' Mama" | flip | — | |
1956 | "It Would Be a Doggone Lie" | — | — |
"My Fate (Is In Your Hands) | — | — | |
1957 | "(Is My Ring) On Your Finger" | — | — |
1958 | "Freedom" | — | — |
1959 | "Soldier's Joy" | 15 | 87 |
1960 | "Patanio" | — | — |
"Put a Nickel in the Jukebox" | — | — | |
1962 | "Twenty Miles from the Shore" | — | — |
"Darkness On the Face of the Earth" | — | — | |
"I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye" | flip | — | |
1963 | "Lonesome 7-7203" | 1 | 108 |
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b c Cesario, Guy. "Patsy Cline: A Fan's Tribute". Patsyvlinetribute.com. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7385-6079-3.
- ^ Ozark Jubilee Souvenir Picture Album (first edition, 1955)
- ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
References
- Cesario, Guy. "Patsy Cline: A Fan's Tribute". Retrieved March 30, 2009.
- McNeil, W.K. (1998). "Hawkshaw Hawkins." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. P. Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 232–233.
- Ozark Jubilee Souvenir Picture Album (first edition, 1955)
External links
- Official website
- Hawkshaw Hawkins biography and tribute Archived October 13, 2008, at the Huntington Herald-Dispatch
- Hawkshaw Hawkins page at patsyclinetribute.com
- Hawkshaw Hawkins biography at hillbilly-music.com
- Hawkshaw Hawkins biography at CMT.com
- Nashville Tennessean photo of Hawkins and Jean Shepard with baby Don, 1961
- Website of the Wheeling Jamboree where Hawkins was a staff performer