From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Jul 16, 2002  7:45 pm
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Mickey Hawks
 
MICKEY HAWKS

Born David Michael Hawks, 17 July 1940, Thomasville, North Carolina
Died 31 August 1989, ?, North Carolina

Singer / pianist. Mickey Hawks was one of the few fifties rock 'n' rollers
who always remained true to his original style : screaming vocals, thumping
piano. Inspired by Little Richard and later by Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey formed
his first band in 1956 which was called The Rhythm Rockers. In September
1957 he joined The Night Raiders, a group led by Moon Mullins, who had a
local radio show and played the sax. After playing together for a while, Moon
wanted the band to cut a record to sell at dances and asked Mickey if he
could write a song. The result was "Bip Bop Boom", a wild rocker, of which
500 copies were pressed on the Robbins Red label. Moon Mullins also made
a record deal for a release on the Mart label from Martinsville, Virginia. The
Profile label from Chicago subsequently bought the master, mixed it some
more and released "Bip Bop Boom" on Profile 4002 in October 1958. This
third release of "Bip Bop Boom" sold about 50,000 copies, doing particularly
well in Chicago and it was even released in South Africa on the Trutone label
where it became a number one record in Johnannesburg.
The next two releases on Profile, "Hidi Hidi Hidi" and "Screamin' Mimi Jeanie",
both from 1959, never came close to that success. Mickey and the band did
not do too many recordings during this time. In 1963 the band broke away from
Moon Mullins and continued on their own, playing mostly in Virginia, where they
also had a TV show called "Saturday Night Country Style". New recordings
followed in 1968 and 1971, but they didn't sell or remained unreleased.
Cees Klop reissued the six Profile recordings on a Collector LP in the early
seventies and "Bip Bop Boom" was re-released as a single in the UK (1977)
and Sweden (1982). Mickey did several tours of Europe in the eighties and
cut a new album, "Sounds Of The 50's", in 1989, shortly before he had a
fatal heart attack at his home whilst playing the piano.

CD: Bip Bop Boom (Star-Club CD 506002). Released in 1999. 24 tracks.