"I don't think he got the respect he deserved, and of course it's too late now." Morrissey
Unfortunately, Mick Ronson is most famous for This... David Bowie givin' him and his guitar a blow job. This is an unfortunate oversight of a man of many talents. He was a songwriter, a producer, and also a terrific guitarist. His guitar work helped shape the sound of David Bowie's best-loved albums, and influenced a generation of glam rockin' guitarists.
Mick Ronson was born on May 26, 1946 and raised Hull, a small city in northern England. From an early age Mick aspired to the rock stardom of his idol Jeff Beck, whose distinct guitar style he strived to copy. After short stints in some small local groups, Mick joined the Rats. The Rats recorded for the UK Decca and Oriole labels, but after a little success, Ronson returned to Hull and found work as a gardener.
In 1970, David Bowie was putting together a new band. Bowie had hired ex-Rat drummer John Cambridge, who suggested his friend Mick Ronson for the vacent lead guitarist opening. Mick was called to London and immediately put to work on a BBC radio session Bowie had scheduled. This band of Bowie's was called the Hype, and the members dressing up in various superhero costumes (Ronson was "Gangsterman").
When Cambridge left the Hype, Mick called ex-Rat Mick "Woody" Woodmansey--and soon they were working on Bowie's classic album, The Man Who Sold The World. Ronson's prominent guitar work resounded throughout with a loud, heavy sound at a time when no one knew what "heavy metal" was. With the album finished and Bowie concentrated on songwriting, Ronson returned to Hull. There he recorded a single, "The Fourth Hour of My Sleep," under the name Ronno. Mick returned to London and the band began the sessions for Bowie's Hunky Dory album (1971). Mick did the arrangements for half of the songs, which favored strings, piano and horns.
Ziggy Stardust. Here is where Ronson and Bowie truely left their mark on music. Brilliant songwriting, androgynous sci-fi imagery, and Bowie's charismatic stage work were groundbreaking. Equally crucial to this album's success was its unique sound, which combined strings, keyboards, and acoustic guitars with a crunching rock power trio. Mick Ronson was as responsible as anyone for that sound: He co-arranged the entire album and performed all the keyboard parts, as well as playing the guitar hero role. Ziggy turned the world on to glitter rock and polysexual decadence, and made an instant superstar of David Bowie.
Mick Ronson also launched a solo career. He released the Ziggyesque Slaughter On Tenth Avenue in 1974, followed the next year by the more straight-ahead Play Don't Worry. Neither album received much positive press from critics.
Ronson briefly joined Mott the Hoople, playing on the song "Saturday Gigs." When Mott broke up, leader Ian Hunter formed a productive partnership with Mick, which would last off and on, for the next twenty years.
Ronson continued doing production, and worked on albums for the Iron City Houserockers, David Johansen, Dead Fingers Talk, the Payolas, and Glen Matlock's post-Sex Pistols group, the Rich Kids. He also worked as a studio guitarist for acts such as Pure Prairie League, Ellen Foley, Kinky Friedman, Annette Peacock, Genya Raven, and John Cougar/Mellencamp. Mick was part of the supergroup that comprised Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975.
Mick was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1990 and finally succumbed to that cancer on April 29,1993. He was 47.
Mick had been working on his third solo album up to the time of his death. The result is the album Heaven And Hull. Among the participating musicians: David Bowie (on "Like A Rolling Stone"), Joe Elliott of Def Leppard (on "Don't Look Down" and "Take A Long Line"), Chrissie Hynde (on "Trouble With Me"), Ian Hunter (on "All The Young
Dudes," recorded live at the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert), and John Mellencamp (on "Life's A River"). With this album Mick finally got the accolades that he deserved.
