Ronnie McDowell

Genres:	Country & Bluegrass
Descriptive "tags":	country • rock • country rock • american • west coast swing • ronnie mcdowell • under 2000 listeners
Decades Active:	1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	Wikipedia

Biography

26 March 1950, Fountain Head, Tennessee, USA. McDowell initially built his career on his ability to imitate the voice of Elvis Presley, a talent he was often called upon to utilize in films and television programmes. He also recorded his own music, however, and by the 80s, was a major star in his own right in the country field. McDowell began trying out his Presley imitation while in the US Navy in 1968. Upon his discharge, he worked as a sign painter in Nashville while trying to sell his songs. Among the country artists who recorded his compositions were Roy Drusky and Billy Walker. He recorded for minor record labels such as Chart and Scorpion during the mid-70s, with no success, and released a cover version of Roy Orbison’s ‘Only The Lonely’ in 1976, which also did not chart. McDowell’s first single to chart was ‘The King Is Gone’, his tribute to his departed hero, which he wrote (with Lee Morgan) and recorded on Scorpion two months...

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