From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Fri Jul 5, 2002  1:12 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Ronnie Self

RONNIE SELF (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born 5 July 1938, Tin Town, Missouri
Died 28 August 1981, Springfield, Missouri

Mr Frantic was his nickname and frantic he was, indeed!
Ronnie Self came from a small Missouri town where his father ran a farm
before the family moved to Springfield. Radio KWTO, in Springfield, was
the home of the ABC Ozark Jubilee show.
Ronnie, already a prolific songwriter, recorded demos at the radio and
managed to cut his first single in mid-56 for ABC in Nashville, thanks to
the Ozark link-up. "Pretty Bad Blues"/"Two Hearts Later" was a good
coupling, the former a great rockabilly track, but it didn't make any noise
chartwise.
In 1957, Ronnie became the rocking part of the Morris Caravan, a touring
troupe of country stars. Recollections of the live appearances of Ronnie
proved he was plugged on high voltage, to say the least! This led to a
contract with Columbia were he cut his rockingest singles, particularly
"Ain't I'm A Dog"/"Rocky Road Blues" and the wildest of the wild,
"Bop-A-Lena" (incidentally written by Mel Tillis - Webb Pierce). Success
was not yet there and the Columbia contract was not renewed.
Then Ronnie moved to Decca were he hit big as the songwriter of two
enormous hits for Brenda Lee : "I'm Sorry" and "Sweet Nothin's" which
led him to pursue a career at songwriting.
By all accounts, Ronnie has always been an instable person, an alcoholic
and sometimes on drugs. This sadly destroyed both his career and his
personal life.
He died in Springfield in mid 1981.

Recommended listening:
Ronnie Self, Bop-A-Lena - Bear Family BCD 15436
Mr. Frantic Is Boppin' the Blues - Hydra BCK 27113 (With liner notes by
Tony Wilkinson)