How did Ronnie Hawkins die? Cause of death and the Illness Revealed

Ronnie Hawkins, a southern rockabilly performer who moved to Canada and became the godfather of a generation of famous rock artists, died at the age of 87. Let’s see what happened, How did Ronnie Hawkins die, and what was his cause of death.

How did Ronnie Hawkins die?

Hawkins died on Sunday morning, his wife Wanda confirmed to The Canadian Press.

“He died peacefully, and he looked as gorgeous as ever,” she remarked over the phone.

Hawkins was well-known for his outgoing personality and energetic onstage presence.

The singer of “Who Do You Love?” “Ruby Baby,” and “Mary Lou” brought numerous musicians under the wing of his backup band, the Hawks, many of whom went on to become huge names in their own right.

The Band would subsequently consist of five members, including Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson.

Over the years, Hawkins earned various nicknames, including Mr. Dynamo, Sir Ronnie, Rompin’ Ronnie, and the Hawk.

Ronnie Hawkins Cause of death

Hawkins died on Sunday morning after a long illness, according to his wife Wanda.

Updates about Ronnie Hawkins Cause of death will go here.

Ronnie Hawkins illness

Hawkins was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2002 and given six months to live. Dr. Bryce Taylor, the chief surgeon at Toronto General, operated on him, legend has it, even holding the hard tumor in his hand, and then stitched him back up, unable to remove it since it was tangled around an artery. They gave him pain relievers and expected he’d be dead before Christmas.

Hawkins refused all medications. “I’d light up a cigarette. It is the world’s best healer “he claims “Put that pharmaceutical crap [painkillers] in your veins, that’s what’s going to get you in trouble.” He was aware that he was “90% dying,” so he sought the advice of some friends who told him about alternative medicines.

He claims to have tried them all. Robbie Robertson, the legendary guitarist who played in Hawkins’ band The Hawks and later formed The Band, introduced him to some Indian doctors. Another great musician, Lonnie Mack, advised him to contact a monk he knew who had prepared a mixture from white oak tree bark. Other herbal medicines were suggested by Dr. Dorothy, a Canadian/Polish doctor.

Then, a month before a huge tribute to Hawkins in October, when death seemed imminent and friends like David Foster, a famous Canadian music producer, and former US president and fellow Arkansas boy, Bill Clinton (via video), showered him with praise, his manager and daughter-in-law, Mary McGillis, received an e-mail with the subject “Help for You.”

Hawkins claims subsequently in a one-on-one conversation that her office had received thousands of e-mails, up to 38,000 in four months. She read the letter, which she describes as “bizarre yet honest,” and informed Hawkins about it. Adam, a 16-year-old from an unspecified location in British Columbia with no surname, was the sender.

“He emphasized that everything is made out of the same substance,” Hawkins replies calmly during our conversation. “His parents informed me that they knew he had extraordinary abilities when he was five years old.”

Hawkins was willing to go to any extent to find a cure. Hawkins recalls Adam cleansing him around a half-dozen times. “Now comes the terrifying part,” he continues, his eyes like large saucers beneath the tinted sunglasses. Adam’s relatives called around a month ago to report that “he had drained everything entirely out and that I should go back and tell the physicians to take another scan.” Hawkins accomplished this. “We informed them that Ronnie was feeling OK, but that no one would employ him if they believed he was dying,” McGillis says. Hawkins is broke. He has had to sell his 1960s cars and artifacts from his house outside Peterborough, Ontario, where he lives with Wanda, his wife of 42 years.

A CAT scan and an MRI subsequently revealed no evidence of a tumor. “Baby, it was gone,” Hawkins exclaims. Neither Dr. Taylor nor Dr. William Hughes, the cardiologist who treated Hawkins two years ago when he had heart issues and needed a quadruple bypass (“I told everyone I was going in for a penis reduction,” Hawkins chuckles), were available for comment.

Hawkins is reluctant to admit that Adam cured him. He would rather list the alternative therapy he attempted and speculate that one or a combination of them may have cleared his tumor. “I believe there is only one healer, the Big Rocker up there,” he says, motioning to the sky.

Updates about Ronnie Hawkins Cause of death will go here.

Ronnie Hawkins Career

Hawkins was godfather to a generation of influential artists, including players he engaged for his support band the Hawks, who went on to play for Bob Dylan on his infamous 1966 tour when the folk singer adopted the electric guitar.

The Band was formed by five Hawks members, including Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson.

Despite clashes with several of his former bandmates, Hawkins joined the band onstage for their memorable 1976 farewell gig, which was recorded in Martin Scorsese’s concert film “The Last Waltz.” In his biography “Testimony,” Robertson would later remark that inviting Hawkins was in part a homage to his influence.

“He was incredibly effective at assembling artists that he believed were the greatest around,” Robertson told The Canadian Press in 2016.

“It was like a Bootcamp for musicians to learn the music and when to do and when not to do certain things.” He basically had a huge role in everything.”

Updates about Ronnie Hawkins Cause of death will go here.

Ronnie Hawkins Early Life

Hawkins, who was born in Arkansas in 1935, joined the army reserve after high school while moonlighting with A.C. Reed’s band, the Black Hawks.

After completing his military service, he built the Rockwood Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which became a famous stop for singers such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Conway Twitty.

He soon handed himself the lead role and began performing as Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, cultivating a bad-boy look with slicked black hair and sideburns.

After several years of unsuccessful starts in his own musical career, the singer-songwriter accepted Twitty’s counsel and embarked on a Canadian tour in 1958. He said that the country was starved for bands ready to play in smaller towns.

Without a recording deal in his native country, Hawkins regarded Canada as “the promised land” — an unexplored market where he could sell his Memphis sound and establish his name to the point of crossover success in the US.

Updates about Ronnie Hawkins Cause of death will go here.

Ronnie Hawkins Musical Journey

Hawkins’ instincts were correct, and before the end of the decade, he had two Billboard Top 100 hits and was featured on “Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.”

In his memoir, Robertson recalls meeting Hawkins for the first time at Toronto’s Dixie Arena. The Suedes, his local band, were hired to start the performance, but he admits the show was easily hijacked by the guy who would become his mentor.

“It was the most furious, energetic, primal rock ‘n’ roll I had ever experienced,” Robertson wrote.

Many credit Hawkins, who had a penchant for fancy automobiles, enormous aviator sunglasses, ladies, and parties, with paving the way for aspiring Canadian musicians to get into the American market.

“Most of them were starving to death,” Hawkins explained. “Agents are unlikely to book a Canadian group.”

So Hawkins would give his automobile, which had US license plates, to band leaders in order to dupe agents and club owners into paying gigs.

“They’d say they were from Scarborough, Tennessee,” he said.

Some dubbed Hawkins “the father of Canadian rock ‘n’ roll,” partially because he encouraged budding artists to join his group.

One of them was a young David Clayton-Thomas, who went to Hawkins’ gigs at Toronto’s Le Coq d’Or Tavern on Yonge Street in the hopes that the fiery guitarist would invite him to sit in with his band.

It happened one day when Hawkins allowed him to “sing a melody” on stage. Years before he became the Grammy-winning lead vocalist of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Clayton-Thomas’ performance prompted the bar’s owner to offer him a lengthier gig.

“This is where it all began for me,” he stated on Sunday. “Ronnie was quite helpful.”

Hawkins was eager to lend his support when Clayton-Thomas’ teen band split later that year.

“It was Christmastime, and Ronnie remarked, ‘Well, you can’t be off for Christmas, can you?’ Come ahead, join my band.’ It turned into a two-month stint singing with Ronnie’s band — Levon, Garth, and the lads — at Le Coq d’Or.”

Not everyone was that fortunate. Hawkins was also known for eliminating underperformers or underlings who didn’t fit in with his band.

Hawkins fired numerous people for falling short of expectations, including Grammy-winning producer David Foster.

“‘You look like a corpse on stage, I want them to seem like they’re having fun,’ he remarked. “You’re not having any joy producing my music,” the artist from Victoria stated in a 2017 interview.

“So he fired me, but we’re still good friends.” He’s simply one of those men that draws talented musicians… We’re still all bowing to him. He’s not a brilliant musician, singer, or composer — but he’s a fantastic performer, and he’s full of life.

In 1969, the year John Lennon and Yoko Ono launched their famous “bed-in” near Montreal to fight for peace, the pair spent a few weeks on Hawkins’ farm in Mississauga, Ont. Later, they took Hawkins on a train excursion to Ottawa to meet with then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Lennon also enlisted Hawkins as a peace messenger, and the two traveled to China together.

Hawkins composed around 500 songs during his career and garnered countless honors and prizes.

He earned a Juno Award for best country male vocalist in 1982 for the album “Legend In His Spare Time.” In October 2002, he received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and the Tragically Hip’s Rob Baker commended Hawkins for taking “aspiring musicians and giving them a chance.”

Former US President Bill Clinton, Foster, and Paul Anka attended a party in Toronto a month after Hawkins announced his recovery. The group performed a cover of “My Way” in honor of the musician.

“He took me and my band in like we were family,” actor and musician Kris Kristofferson stated in a 2002 tribute to Hawkins.

“If there is a rock and roll god, he looks just like this guy.”

Updates about Ronnie Hawkins Cause of death will go here.

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