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Harold Franklin Hawkins (December 22, 1921 – March 5, 1963), better known as Hawkshaw Hawkins, was an
American country music singer popular from the 1950s into the early 60s known for his rich, smooth vocals
and music drawn from blues, boogie and honky tonk. At 6 ft 5 inches tall, he had an imposing stage
presence, and he dressed more conservatively than some other male country singers. Hawkins died in the 1963
plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. He was a member of the Grand Ole
Opry and was married to country star Jean Shepard.
Biography
Harold Hawkins was born on December 22, 1921 in Huntington, West Virginia. He gained his nickname as a boy
after helping a neighbor track down two missing fishing rods: the neighbor called him "Hawkshaw" after the
title character in the comic strip, Hawkshaw the Detective. He traded five trapped rabbits for his first
guitar, and performed on WCMI-AM in Ashland, Kentucky. At 16, he won a talent competition and a job on
WSAZ-AM in Huntington, where he formed Hawkshaw and Sherlock with Clarence Jack. They moved to WCHS-AM in
Charleston, West Virginia in the late 1930s. In 1940, at 19, he married Reva Mason Barbour, a 16-year-old
from Huntington.
During 1941, Hawkins traveled the United States with a musical revue. He entered the US Army in 1943 during
World War II, and served as an engineer stationed near Paris, Texas where he and friends performed at local
clubs. As a staff sergeant, he was stationed in France and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, winning four
battle stars during 15 months of combat. He was also stationed in Manila and performed there on the radio.
Postwar success
After he was discharged, Hawkins became a regular on WWVA Jamboree from 1945 to 1954 in Wheeling, West
Virginia. In 1948, he signed a recording contract with King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio. His first two
recordings with King, "Pan American" and "Dog House Boogie", were top ten country hits. A minor hit, and
the song that become his signature tune, was "The Sunny Side of the Mountain." "Slow Poke", recorded in
1951, was another notable King recording. He stayed with the label until 1953.
In 1951, Hawkins and his wife adopted 4-year old [Susan Marlene]. They divorced in 1958, and Susan remained
with her adoptive mother.
Beginning in 1954, Hawkins was a regular performer on ABC Radio and TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield,
Missouri, where he met his second wife, Jean Shepard . After a few years with Columbia and RCA Records, he
joined the Grand Ole Opry and returned to King; and in 1962 he recorded his biggest hit, "Lonesome 7-7203".
It first appeared on the Billboard country chart as a March 2, 1963 release, three days before Hawkins
died. The song was absent from the charts for the two weeks following his death, but re-appeared on March
23 and spent 25 weeks on the chart, four of them at No. 1, an accomplishment that eluded him in life.
Aircraft accident
On March 3, 1963, Hawkins, Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas performed at a benefit concert at the Soldiers and
Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas for the family of disc jockey "Cactus" Jack Call, who had died
in January after an automobile accident. Among the performers was Billy Walker, who received an urgent
phone call and needed to return to Nashville immediately. Hawkins gave Walker his commercial airline ticket
and instead flew back in a private plane in Walker's place.
On March 5, Hawkins, Cline and Copas left for Nashville in a Piper Comanche piloted by Cline's manager (and
Copas' son-in-law), Randy Hughes. After stopping to refuel in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the craft took off at
6:07 p.m. CT. The plane flew into severe weather and crashed at 6:20 p.m. in a forest near Camden,
Tennessee, 90 miles from Nashville. There were no survivors. Fans around the world mourned the loss;
Hawkshaw was survived by his young son Donni, and his wife Jean Shepard was pregnant at the time with their
second son,Harold Franklin Hawkins II. Hawk Jr was born just one month after his father's death.
Hawkins was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee in "Music Row" with Copas
and other country music stars.
Legacy
The location of the airplane crash in the still-remote forest outside Camden is noted by a stone marker,
dedicated on July 6, 1996.
Hawkins is remembered in "Love Never Dies" on Martin Simpson's 2003 album, Righteousness and Humidity. In
the song, Simpson meets an old truck driver who used to play guitar: "I gave old Hawkshaw a Gibson one
time, it was a J-200, man, such a sweet neck! And they say it stood up like a country grave marker, right
there in the middle of that plane wreck."
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