Mick Ronson
Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993)[1] was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and also worked as a sideman in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.[2] A classically trained musician, Ronson was known for his melodic approach to guitar playing.
Not to be confused with Mark Ronson.
Ronson and Bowie produced Lou Reed's Transformer with Ronson playing lead guitar and piano and writing string arrangements, which brought mainstream recognition.[3] The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side".[4] The next decade, John Cougar Mellencamp credited Ronson for helping to arrange his most successful hit single, "Jack & Diane".
Ronson recorded five solo studio albums, the most popular being Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which reached No. 9 on the UK Albums Chart.[5] He played with various bands after his time with Bowie. He was named the 64th-greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2003[6] and 41st in 2012 by the same magazine.[7]
Early life[edit]
Michael Ronson was born in Kingston upon Hull in 1946. He was the first son of George and Minnie Ronson and had two younger siblings, Maggi and David.[8] As a child he was trained classically to play piano, recorder, violin, and (later) the harmonium. He initially wanted to be a cellist, but moved to guitar upon discovering the music of Duane Eddy, whose sound on the bass notes of his guitar sounded to Ronson similar to that of the cello.[9] He joined his first band, The Mariners, in November 1963, when he was 17. His stage debut with The Mariners was in support of the Keith Herd Band at Brough Village Hall, a gig for which the band travelled 35 miles and got paid 10 shillings (50p). While Ronson was working with The Mariners, another local Hull group – The Crestas – recruited him on the advice of The Mariners' bassist John Griffiths. With Ronson on board the Crestas gained a solid reputation, making regular appearances at local halls: Mondays at the Halfway House in Hull, Thursdays at the Ferryboat Hotel, Fridays at the Regal Ballroom in Beverley, and Sundays at the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby.
In 1965, Ronson left The Crestas, moving to London to seek work. He took a part-time job as a mechanic, and joined a band called The Voice, replacing Miller Anderson. Soon afterwards, Crestas' drummer Dave Bradfield travelled to London, replacing the Voice's previous drummer. After playing a few dates with the group, Ronson and Bradfield returned from a weekend in Hull to find their gear piled at their flat and a note explaining that the rest of the group had gone to The Bahamas. Ronson stayed in London and teamed up briefly with a soul band called The Wanted, before eventually returning to Hull. In 1966, he joined Hull's top local band, The Rats, joining singer Benny Marshall, bassist Geoff Appleby, and drummer Jim Simpson (who was subsequently replaced by Clive Taylor and then John Cambridge). The group played the local circuit, and made a few unsuccessful trips to London and Paris.[10]
In 1967 The Rats recorded the one-off psychedelic track "The Rise and Fall of Bernie Gripplestone"[11] at Fairview Studios in Willerby, East Riding of Yorkshire and can be heard on the 2008 release, Front Room Masters – Fairview Studios 1966–1973.[12] 1968 saw the band change their name briefly to Treacle and book another recording session at Fairview Studios in 1969, before reverting to their original name. Around this time, Ronson was recommended by Rick Kemp to play guitar on Michael Chapman's Fully Qualified Survivor album.[11]
In 1968 Keith 'Ched' Cheesman joined The Rats replacing Geoff Appleby on bass and the line up of Ronson, Marshall, Cheesman and Cambridge entered Fairview studio to record "Guitar Boogie", "Stop and Get A Hold of Myself" and "Morning Dew".
When John Cambridge left The Rats to join his former Hullaballoos bandmate Mick Wayne in Junior's Eyes, he was replaced by Mick "Woody" Woodmansey. In November 1969, the band recorded a final session at Fairview, taping "Telephone Blues" and "Early in Spring".
In March 1970, during the recording sessions for Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, Ronson played guitar on the track "Madman Across the Water". This song, however, was not included in the original release. The recording featuring Ronson was released on the 1992 compilation album, Rare Masters, as well as the 1995 reissue and 2008 deluxe edition of Tumbleweed Connection.[13]
Personal life[edit]
Ronson was married in Bearsville, New York State, in March 1977, to Suzanne (Suzi) Fussey, a hairdresser, who worked for David Bowie at the same time that Ronson did.[31][32] They had a daughter, Lisa, born 10 August 1977, a former vocalist with The Secret History. Ronson had two sons, Nicholas (born 1971) with his girlfriend Denise, as well as Joakim (born 1990) with Carola Westerlund.[33][8]
In popular culture[edit]
A 2017 feature-length biographical documentary entitled Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story[46][47] was directed by Jon Brewer produced by Cardinal Releasing. The film had a limited theatrical release and was later released to DVD.