Bonnie Lou
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| Bonnie Lou | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mary Jo Kath |
| Also known as | Bonnie Lou |
| Born | October 27, 1924 |
| Origin | [[Illinois]Talawanda, Illinois]] |
| Genre(s) | Country, Rock & Roll, Rockabilly |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1953-1960s |
| Label(s) | King Records Fraternity Records |
| Associated acts | Janis Martin, Wanda Jackson, Jo Ann Campbell |
Bonnie Lou (born Mary Jo Kath October 27, 1924 in Talawanda, Indiana) is an American Rock & Roll and Country Music singer. During the mid 1950s, Rock & Roll was the hottest selling music on the market. Few women however ventured into this territory, like Bonnie Lou. Bonnie Lou was one of the first female Rock & Roll stars who proved to the public that female singers could indeed sing Rock & Roll.
Like most Rock & Roll singers during the 1950s, Bonnie Lou's singles were also Country Music hits.
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[edit] Early Life & Rise to Fame
Bonnie Lou's real name is Mary Jo Kath, and she was born in 1924 in Illinois. 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.
[edit] Country and Rock & Roll Star In the 50s
In 1953, Lou signed on with her first record company called King Records 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 & Roll. In 1954, she recorded the song "Two Side Step", which was written by Murray Wilson, who is the father of The Beach Boys, Carl, Brian, and Dennis. In 1955, she released her first Rock & Roll record called "Daddy-O". The song was a Top 15 Pop hit that year, and turned Lou into a major Rock & 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.
[edit] Later Career & Personal Life Today
Bonnie spent more and more of her later career on television, co-hosting the Paul Dixon Show 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. 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 is 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.
[edit] Charted Singles
| Year | Single | U.S. Country Singles | U.S. Pop Singles | Album |
| 1953 | "Seven Lonely Days" | 7 | - | Bonnie Lou: Doin' the Tennessee Walk |
| 1953 | "Tennessee Wig Walk" | 6 | - | Bonnie Lou: Doin' the Tennessee Wig Walk |
| 1955 | "Daddy-O" | - | 14 | Bonnie Lou: Doin' the Tennessee Wig Walk |
| 1958 | "Lah Dee Dah" (with Rusty York) | - | - | Lah Dee Dah |
