Bonnie Lou
Encyclopedia
Bonnie Lou is an American
rock and roll
and country music
singer. During the mid-1950s, Bonnie Lou helped pave the way for future female artists as one of rock and roll's first female singers. Many of her rock and roll hits were also crossover hits in the world of country music.
. Mary grew up listening to Patsy Montana
and her band "The Prairie Ramblers", and was greatly inspired by her. Mary learned how to yodel, which was from the help of her Swiss grandmother. As a child she learned how to play two instruments, the violin
and guitar
. By the young age of 16, she was singing and performing on a local radio show in Bloomington, Illinois
. By age 18, Mary went on a bigger radio show, which aired in Kansas City, Missouri
. Her exposure on this radio show in Kansas City
, helped her land a job as a singer on WLW
Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio
, where station executive Bill McCluskey hired Mary as a singer a yodeler for his radio show called Midwestern Hayride
Country & Western Radio Program. McCluskey was the one who gave Mary Jo the stage name she would be known by for the rest of her life, "Bonnie Lou". While on the radio show in Cincinnati, Lou performed regularly with Country Music
girl group the Girls of the Golden West
, which Lou listened to as a child.
Bonnie Lou continued radio
performances until the end of the 1940s. Her radio performances were even cut to acetate
and released to the public. However, Bonnie Lou never truly broke as a recording artist until the 1950s.
in Cincinnati, Ohio
. In the beginning stages of her recording career, Lou recorded Country Music
material and released it. Bonnie soon had big Country Music
hits with "Tennessee Wig Walk" and "Seven Lonely Days". Both songs were Top 10 country hits. The flip side of her hit "Seven Lonely Days" featured the song "Just Out of Reach", which would later be covered by other Country singers, like Patsy Cline
, Billie Jo Spears
, Jean Shepard
, and k.d. Lang
.
Soon, Bonnie started recording rockabilly
or rock and roll. In 1954, she recorded the song "Two-Step Side-Step", which was written by Murry Wilson
, who is the father of The Beach Boys
, Carl, Brian, and Dennis. In 1955, she released her first rock and roll record called "Daddy-O". The song was a Top 15 pop hit that year, and turned Lou into a rock and roll star overnight. The song was later covered by The Fontaine Sisters on the Dot Records
label. It wasn't until 1958 though that Bonnie had another hit, this a duet with Rusty York
called "La Dee Dah". They soon reorded a Teen Pop
song together called "I Let the School Bell Ding-a-Ling". Soon, Lou left the King label for another Cincinnati record label called Fraternity. She released several different singles for Fraternity, one of which were as successful as her singles for the King label.
in Cincinnati. But in keeping faithful to her Country Music
roots, she also became a regular on WLWT
's Midwestern Hayride
, (a show inspired by the legendary Shreveport-based Louisiana Hayride
) until it went off the air in the early 70s. Bonnie Lou also appeared on the Ruth Lyon's 50-50 Club, a local show produced in Cincinnati, Ohio. After Dixon's death in late 1974, Lou quietly went into retirement and settled in Cincinnati, with her husband Milt, who she has claimed as one of her biggest supporters. They currently own homes in Cincinnati, Ohio
and Cape Coral, Florida
. After marrying Milt, Lou reverted back to her real name Mary Jo, and as Okum's wife took his last name for herself. The couple are now retired and spend part of their time in Florida
and Cincinnati.
In 2000, the CD, Bonnie Lou - Doin' the Tennessee Walk - The Best of the King Years was released, featuring all of her big hits under King Records
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer. During the mid-1950s, Bonnie Lou helped pave the way for future female artists as one of rock and roll's first female singers. Many of her rock and roll hits were also crossover hits in the world of country music.
Early life and rise to fame
Bonnie Lou's real name is Mary Jo Kath, and she was born in 1924 in IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Mary grew up listening to Patsy Montana
Patsy Montana
Ruby Rose Blevins , known professionally as Patsy Montana, was an American country music singer-songwriter and the first female country performer to have a million-selling single...
and her band "The Prairie Ramblers", and was greatly inspired by her. Mary learned how to yodel, which was from the help of her Swiss grandmother. As a child she learned how to play two instruments, the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. By the young age of 16, she was singing and performing on a local radio show in Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
. By age 18, Mary went on a bigger radio show, which aired in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. Her exposure on this radio show in Kansas City
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...
, helped her land a job as a singer on WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, where station executive Bill McCluskey hired Mary as a singer a yodeler for his radio show called Midwestern Hayride
Midwestern Hayride
Midwestern Hayride, sometimes known as Midwest Hayride, was an American country music show originating in the 1930s from WLW-AM and later from WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the 1950s it was carried nationally by NBC and then ABC television...
Country & Western Radio Program. McCluskey was the one who gave Mary Jo the stage name she would be known by for the rest of her life, "Bonnie Lou". While on the radio show in Cincinnati, Lou performed regularly with Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
girl group the Girls of the Golden West
Girls of the Golden West
The Girls of the Golden West comprising and was an American female country music female duo that was popular during the "Western Era" of the 1930s and 1940s. Mildred and Dolly Good were born in Mt...
, which Lou listened to as a child.
Bonnie Lou continued radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
performances until the end of the 1940s. Her radio performances were even cut to acetate
Acetate
An acetate is a derivative of acetic acid. This term includes salts and esters, as well as the anion found in solution. Most of the approximately 5 billion kilograms of acetic acid produced annually in industry are used in the production of acetates, which usually take the form of polymers. In...
and released to the public. However, Bonnie Lou never truly broke as a recording artist until the 1950s.
Country and rock and roll star in the 1950s
In 1953, Lou signed on with her first record company called King RecordsKing Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. In the beginning stages of her recording career, Lou recorded Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
material and released it. Bonnie soon had big Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
hits with "Tennessee Wig Walk" and "Seven Lonely Days". Both songs were Top 10 country hits. The flip side of her hit "Seven Lonely Days" featured the song "Just Out of Reach", which would later be covered by other Country singers, like Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
, Billie Jo Spears
Billie Jo Spears
Billie Jo Spears is an American country music singer. She reached the top-10 of the Country music charts five times between 1969 and 1977, her biggest hit being "Blanket on the Ground", which, in 1975, became her only number one...
, Jean Shepard
Jean Shepard
Ollie Imogene Shepard , better known as Jean Shepard, is an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who was a pioneer for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the #1 spot...
, and k.d. Lang
K.D. Lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...
.
Soon, Bonnie started recording rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
or rock and roll. In 1954, she recorded the song "Two-Step Side-Step", which was written by Murry Wilson
Murry Wilson
Murry Gage Wilson was an American musician and record producer, best remembered as the father of The Beach Boys members Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson, uncle of bandmate Mike Love, and the husband of Audree Wilson...
, who is the father of The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Carl, Brian, and Dennis. In 1955, she released her first rock and roll record called "Daddy-O". The song was a Top 15 pop hit that year, and turned Lou into a rock and roll star overnight. The song was later covered by The Fontaine Sisters on the Dot Records
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...
label. It wasn't until 1958 though that Bonnie had another hit, this a duet with Rusty York
Rusty York
Rusty York is an American musician and member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Rusty York achieved Hall of Fame status with his Rockabilly song "Sugaree." The rockabilly phase was a minor success, but by the 1960s, York had returned to bluegrass and country...
called "La Dee Dah". They soon reorded a Teen Pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
song together called "I Let the School Bell Ding-a-Ling". Soon, Lou left the King label for another Cincinnati record label called Fraternity. She released several different singles for Fraternity, one of which were as successful as her singles for the King label.
Later career and personal life today
Bonnie spent more and more of her later career on television, co-hosting the Paul Dixon ShowPaul Dixon Show
The Paul Dixon Show was an American television variety program originating in Cincinnati on WLWT Television beginning in 1955 and ending in January 1975, one month after Dixon's death in December 1974...
in Cincinnati. But in keeping faithful to her Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
roots, she also became a regular on WLWT
WLWT
WLWT, virtual channel 5 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, the station is owned by Hearst Television...
's Midwestern Hayride
Midwestern Hayride
Midwestern Hayride, sometimes known as Midwest Hayride, was an American country music show originating in the 1930s from WLW-AM and later from WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the 1950s it was carried nationally by NBC and then ABC television...
, (a show inspired by the legendary Shreveport-based Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
) until it went off the air in the early 70s. Bonnie Lou also appeared on the Ruth Lyon's 50-50 Club, a local show produced in Cincinnati, Ohio. After Dixon's death in late 1974, Lou quietly went into retirement and settled in Cincinnati, with her husband Milt, who she has claimed as one of her biggest supporters. They currently own homes in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
and Cape Coral, Florida
Cape Coral, Florida
Cape Coral is a municipality located in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957 and developed as a master-planned, pre-platted community, the city grew to a population of 154,305 by the year 2010. With an area of , Cape Coral is the largest city between Tampa and...
. After marrying Milt, Lou reverted back to her real name Mary Jo, and as Okum's wife took his last name for herself. The couple are now retired and spend part of their time in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Cincinnati.
In 2000, the CD, Bonnie Lou - Doin' the Tennessee Walk - The Best of the King Years was released, featuring all of her big hits under King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
.
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|||
| 1953 | "Seven Lonely Days Seven Lonely Days In 1969, Jean Shepard released a version from her album Seven Lonely Days. It was her first single to become a major hit since 1967's "Your Forevers Don't Last Very Long". Shepard's versions reached #18 on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Singles chart and #34 on the RPM Country Singles chart.-... " |
7 | — | — | Bonnie Lou: Doin' the Tennessee Walk |
| "Tennessee Wig Walk" | 6 | — | 4 | Bonnie Lou: Doin' the Tennessee Wig Walk | |
| 1955 | "Daddy-O" | — | 14 | — | |
| 1958 | "Lah Dee Dah" (with Rusty York Rusty York Rusty York is an American musician and member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Rusty York achieved Hall of Fame status with his Rockabilly song "Sugaree." The rockabilly phase was a minor success, but by the 1960s, York had returned to bluegrass and country... ) |
— | — | — | Lah Dee Dah |