January 10, 1935

Rock and roll singer and bandleader Ronnie Hawkins was born in Huntsville (Madison County). Best known for starting the group the Hawks, which later became the Band, Hawkins had only two hit records in America but fared much better in Canada, where he earned the 1982 Juno Award, equivalent to an American Grammy, as Best Male Country Vocalist. In 1996, he was presented with the Walt Grealis Special Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the most esteemed honors in the Canadian music industry. He was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in 2008. He died in 2022.