Ted Hawkins | Artist

Ted Hawkins was an American singer-songwriter born 1936 in Biloxi, Mississippi. He split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California, where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, and Europe and Australia, where he and his songs were better known and appreciated. Hawkins was born into a poor family in Mississippi and had a difficult early life. He was sent to reform school when he was 12 years old. As a teenager he hitchhiked and drifted across the country for the next dozen years, earning several stays in prison including a three-year stint for stealing. Along the way, he picked up a love of music and a talent for the guitar. In the mid 60s Hawkins set out for California to try for a professional singing career. He recorded several tunes without commercial success, worked at odd jobs, and took up busking along the piers and storefronts of Venice Beach, as a way to supplement his income. Hawkins continued his itinerant lifestyle and spent portions of his life in jail and addicted to heroin. Most of his album releases are archival compilations "discovered" by producers, such as Bruce Bromberg. For this first major-label release, The Next Hundred Years (1994), Geffen Records producer Tony Berg added session musicians to Hawkins' typical solo guitar-and-vocal arrangements for the first time, bringing national attention and respectable sales to the artist. Hawkins began to tour on the basis of this success, commenting that he had finally reached an age where he was glad to be able to sing indoors, out of the weather, and for an appreciative crowd. He died of a stroke at the age of 58, just a few months after the release of his breakthrough recording. Standout albums include Watch Your Step, Song From Venice Beach, The Next Hundred Years and The Final Tour.

Artist Website: wikipedia/Ted_Hawkins

Featured Albums: Ted Hawkins