Ronnie Self was born in Tin Town, Missouri, on 5^th July 1938 and lived a rural life with his parent until they moved to Springfield. Self had a reputation as a wild boy, with incidents of vandalism and assault in his background. He became interested in music while still a boy, and began writing songs while in his teens. His first recording sessions were held in Nashville on behalf of ABC Records. This led to a contract and the release of a single, which failed to chart.

In January of 1957, Self started performing in the Phillip Morris Caravan troupe, and he quickly began attracting attention with his wild and highly animated stage act, not to mention the nature of his songs. His success on the tour helped get him a contract with Columbia Records in February 1957. In December, he recorded a piece of rapid-fire, high-powered rock 'n' roll called Bop A Lena. The raw power of Self’s singing, coupled with the frantic beat, resulted in the song being labeled in some quarters as the first ever punk single.

The record was issued in the spring of 1958 and began climbing the charts, eventually making it to number sixty-eight. Unable to promote the record because of his reputation, the song stalled on the charts and disappeared soon after. It did perform well on the Australian charts as did his first hit downunder, Ain’t I’m A Dog?. He never had a hit song as a recording artist but did see some success as a songwriter with both Brenda Lee and Jerry Lee Lewis covering some of his songs. He died in Springfield, Missouri on 28^th August 1981.