Hawkshaw Hawkins - Biography
Hawkshaw Hawkins was a country music singer popular in the 1950s and early 60s.Known for his smooth vocals and tasteful attire, he was also nicknamed “The Country Gentlemen.” He died in the 1963 plane crash that also killed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas.
Harold Franklin Hawkins was born December 22nd, 1921, in Huntington, West Virginia. “Hawkshaw” was a childhood nickname and reference to comic strip character Hawkshaw the Detective. He acquired his first guitar in exchange for five rabbits. His first broadcast performance was on Ashland, Kentucky’s WCMI-AM. At sixteen, he won a talent competition and secured a spot on Huntington’s WSAZ-AM. There, with Clarence Jack, he co-founded the duo Hawkshaw and Sherlock. By the end of the 1930s, the two frequently performed on Charleston’s WCHS. In 1940, he married a sixteen-year-old from Huntingtong, Reva Mason Barbour.
Hawkins began performing around the US as part of a musical revue in 1941. However, in 1943 he enrolled in the army and served as an engineer near Paris, Texas, where he continued performing in his free time. As a staff sergeant, he shipped to France and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Whilst stationed in Manila, he continued performing on the local army radio. After fifteen months he was awarded four battle stars. Upon being discharged in 1945, he returned to West Virginia, where (until 1954) he was a regular on Wheeling’s WWVA Jamboree.
A recording contract with Cincinnati, Ohio’s King Records came in 1946. That year he released a clutch of singles; "After All We Meant to Each Other" b/w "The Way I Love You," "Time Will Come" b/w "I've Got the Blueson King," "Blue Eyed Elaine" b/w "Try Me One More Time," "I'm Wondering How" b/w "That's When It's Comin' Home to You," "I Ain't Goin' Honky Tonkin' Any More" b/w "I'll Never Cry Over You," "It's Been So Long Darling" b/w "I Wonder Why You Said Goodbye," "Mean Mama Blues" b/w "Mean Old Bed Bug Blues," "Soldier's Last Letter" b/w "There's a Little Bit of Everything," "Walking the Floor Over You" b/w "I'll Get Along Somehow," and "You Nearly Lose Your Mind" b/w "Are You Waiting Just for Me.” "When They Found the Atomic Power" b/w "Since You Went Away," "Heartweary and Blue" b/w "Moonlight on the Cabin" and "Sunny Side of the Mountain" b/w "After Yesterday" followed in 1947. In 1948 he released "Never Say Goodbye" b/w "Secrets of My Heart," "Pan American" b/w "Suppose," "Dog House Boogie" b/w "I Can't Tell My Broken Heart a Lie" and "I Didn't Have the Heart to Say Goodbye" b/w "Some of These Nights." In 1949, he released "Memories Always Lingers On" b/w "Somebody Lied," "Life Lost Its Color" b/w "All Because of My Jealous Heart," "The Longer We're Together" b/w "Would You Like to Have a Broken Heart" and "I Wasted a Nickel" b/w "I'm Kissing Your Picture Counting Tears."
The string of singles continued in the 1950s with 1950’s "There's a Teardrop in Your Eye" b/w "I Wanted Someone to Love Me," "Back to the Doghouse" b/w "Pardon Me for Loving You," "Yesterday's Kisses" b/w "That's All She Wrote," and "Handcuffed to Love" b/w "Stop Please Stop"; and 1951’s "I Love You a Thousand Ways" b/w "Teardrops From My Eyes," "Shotgun Boogie" b/w "You Don't Belong to Me," "Rattlesnakin' Daddy" b/w "I Hate Myself," "I'm Waiting Just for You" b/w "Heartache to Recall," "Blue Skies in Your Eyes / Sunny Side of the Mountain", "Slow Poke" b/w "Two Road" — the latter his first significant hit. That year Hawkins and his wife also adopted a four-year-old daughter, Susan Marlene.
After 1952’s "Everybody's Got a Girl But Me" b/w "Be My Life's Companion," "Over the Hill (with Ruby Wright)" b/w "I'm Slowly Dying of a Broken Heart," "Unwanted" b/w "Got You on My Mind," "I Love the Way You Say Goodnight" b/w "Loaded With Love," "Heavenly Road" b/w "Empty Mansion" and "I Hope You're Crying Too" b/w "I'm a Lone Wolf"; and 1953’s "Betty Lorraine" b/w "Tangled Heart," "Kaw-Liga" b/w "If I Ever Get Rich Mom," "The Life Story of Hank Williams" b/w "Picking Sweethearts" and "Barbara Allen" b/w "The Life Story of Hank Williams," Hawkins left King and signed with RCA Victor.
At RCA he released "I'll Trade Yours for Mine" b/w "Long Way," "Mark Round My Finger" b/w "Heap of Lovin'” and "When You Say Yes" b/w "I'll Never Close My Heart to you" in 1953. The following year he released "Waitin' for My Baby (Rock Rock) / Flashing Lights," "Rebound" b/w "Why Didn’t I Hear It from you," "I Wanna Be Hugged to Death By You" b/w "One White Rose” and "I'll Take a Chance With You" b/w "Why Don't You Leave This Town." That year he began performing on ABC Radio and TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri. There, he met his future second wife, Jean Shepard.
In 1955 he released "Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)" (with Rita Robbins) b/w "Ling Ting Tong," "Pedro Gonzales Tennessee Lopez" b/w "How Could Anything So Pretty Be So Doggone," "Love You Steal" b/w "Car Hoppin' Mama" and "Standing at the End of My World" b/w "I Gotta Have You." In 1956, he released "Borrowing" b/w "If It Ain't on the Menu," "My Fate Is in Your Hands" b/w "I'll Be Gone" and "It Would Be a Doggone Lie” b/w “Sunny Side of the Mountain." Although “Sunny Side of the Mountain” proves only a minor hit, it became his signature tune. In 1957m Hawkins released "Action" b/w "Oh How I Cried," "Dark Moon" b/w "With This Pen” and "(Is My) Ring on Your Finger" b/w "Sensation." The following year he released "It's Easier Said than Done" b/w "Guilty of Dreaming," "I'll Get Even with You" b/w "I Don't Apologize for Lovin' You" and "Freedom" b/w "I've Got It Again." The same year, he and Barbour divorced. He also returned to King, who released his first full-lengths, Hawkins Sings Grand Ole Opry Favorites, Vol. 1 (1958 King) and Hawkshaw Hawkins Sings Grand Ole Opry Favorites, Vol. 2 (1958-King). In 1959, “Big Red Benson" b/w "Soldiers Joy," "She Was Here" b/w "Are You Happy,” Big Beat Jazz (1959 King) and Hawkshaw Hawkins Sings Grand Ole Opry Favorites, Vol. 3 (1959 King).
After his second period at King, Hawkins moved to Columbia and released "Soldier's Joy" b/w "Big Red Benson,” which reached fifteen. In 1960, he married Jean Shepard and they settled in Nashville, buying a horse ranch. He continued to release singles, including 1960’s "Put a Nickel in the Jukebox" b/w "Your Conscience," "My Story" b/w "You Know Me Much Too Well" and "Nothing More to Say" b/w "Between the Lines"; 1961’s "Love I Have for You" b/w "No Love for Me" and "Big Ole Heartache" b/w "Twenty Miles From Shore"; and 1962’s "Patanio" b/w "Alaska Lil and Texas Bill," and "Darkness on the Face of the Earth" b/w "I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye."
In 1962, Hawkins joined the Grand Ole Opry. The singles "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" b/w "Girl without a Name" and "Bad News Travels Fast (In Our Town)" b/w "Let Them Talk" were followed by his biggest hit, "Lonesome 7-7203" b/w "Everything Has Changed.” It was released on March 2nd, 1963. Three days later, Hawkins boarded a plane with Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas which crashed, killing them all. In the wake of his death, the song spendt 25 weeks on the charts, four of them at number one. At the time of Hawkins’s death, Shepard was pregnant with their son, Harold Franklin II. Hawkins was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
More singles were released in the wake of Hawkins’ death, as well as the collections Taken from Our Vaults, Vol. 1 (1963 King), Taken from Our Vaults, Vol. 2 (1963 King), The All New Hawkshaw Hawkins (1963 King), Taken from Our Vaults, Vol. 3 (1964 King).