dale hawkins has been singing all his life and forty years later, he is still going strong. dale performs all over the usa and europe as he did in the 50′s when his checker recording of susie q was a smash hit. born in goldmine, louisiana, dale got his inspiration to sing and perform from spirituals he heard from black field hands, he picked cotton with. when they broke for lunch the singing would begin and dale joined in with them. they taught him how to play guitar and sing. the work was back breaking, but the experience pointed the way toward a singing career that has lasted forty-four years and still going. from the cotton fields dale sold news papers and bought himself a guitar. he began to play and sing the songs the black field hands had taught him. he then got a job at kwkh radio in shreveport where he formed a band and began to play on the louisiana hayride ride. when dale was sixteen, he and his band played local with a new kind of sound that he had created that was a hybrid mix of cajun country and blues. on stage dale would go into one of his self pinned composition that exploded into a rebel rousing performance that the crowds couldn’t get enough off. the live performances lead to a recording contract with checker records in chicago, which resulted in the recording of susie q, which became a smash hit for dale in 1957, other hits followed,. la-do-da-da, a house, a car and a wedding ring, my babe, i wanna love ya, and the comedy recording of see ya baboon. all released on checker records. dale’s career has been nothing less than spectacular. he has recorded country and blues. he produced the hit hey baby for bruce channel on smash records. he has worked with many recording artist on different projects. dale is kept busy these days in his recording studio the hawk’s nest in little rock, arkansas and a touring schedule that takes him all over the usa and europe. at sixty-three, dale hawkins is going as strong as when he started his career at nineteen. dale has been inducted into the rockabilly hall of fame and he should be in the rock n roll hall of fame in cleveland, ohio. more on dale hawkins in our next report. posted april, 2002

~ Widmarc Clark