FOG BLOG ENTERTAINMENT NEWS LOG: 'ROCKIN' RONNIE HAWKINS DEAD AT 87!

Ronnie Hawkins, musician who called Canada home and mentored the Band, dead at 87 Southern rockabilly singer received honorary Order of Canada appointment in 2014 Ronnie Hawkins, the big, boisterous Southern rockabilly singer who called Canada home and helped mentor the first band from this country inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has died.

His wife, Wanda, confirmed to The Canadian Press that Hawkins died Sunday morning after a long illness at age 87. "He went peacefully and he looked as handsome as ever," she said in a phone interview with CP.

The musician known as The Hawk didn't make his reputation in the studio. His highest charting single in the U.S. reached No. 26, and, not a natural songwriter, most of his recorded work consisted of covers. But his stage shows were raucous affairs, characterized by his booming voice, humorous stage patter and acrobatic moves like his "camel walk."

Hawkins, born and raised in Arkansas, got wind of steady work available on the Canadian bar circuit from Conway Twitty, among others. He began touring in Ontario in 1958, and by the time he was featured in a CBC Telescope documentary nine years later, he was ensconced in Canada.

"You know, I don't know anything about Canadian politics, the price of wheat or Niagara Falls," he said in the doccumentary. "But I sure do know one thing: I sure dig it up here."