The Hawk nurtured such band members as Roy Buchanan, Beverly D'Angelo, David Foster, Lawrence Gowan and Pat Travers but his greatest legacy is his band of Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson who left to back Bob Dylan and then made their own mark as the Band, with critically hailed albums and hits such as The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek and The Weight.
I'll always remember Rompin' Ronnie Hawkins, donning a fur coat, performing on New Year's Eve at Nathan Phillips Square.
FOTM Note: Ronnie Hawkins is not Ron Hawkins of Lowest of the Low, who is alive and well at the time of this writing.