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Ronnie Dove
Ronnie Dove in 1966
Background information
	Ronald Eugene Dove
Born	(1935-09-07) September 7, 1935 (age 82) Herndon, Virginia, United States
Genres	Pop, country
	Singer, songwriter, producer
	1959-1989, 1991-present
Labels	Diamond Records, Decca Records, Certron Records, MCA Records, Hobby Records, Melodyland Records
	Johnny Thunder (singer)
Website	http://www.ronniedove.com http://ronniedovemusic.com

Ronnie Dove (born September 7, 1935) is an American pop and country musician who had a string of hit pop records in the mid to late 1960's and several country chart records in the 70's and 80's.

Biography

Ronnie Dove, the only son of Fairfax County, Virginia police sergeant Paul S. Dove and his first wife, Catherine Pearl nee Smith Dove Rusk, was born in Herndon, Virginia, his older sister is Marjorie L. Forrester. During his stint in the Coast Guard, Dove began his singing career in the clubs of Baltimore, where he was stationed. He formed a group, The Belltones, and they played Baltimore and the East Coast for four years. In 1959, they recorded their debut single "Lover Boy" as well as a cover of the Buddy Knox hit "Party Doll" before Dove went solo with Diamond Records. His first solo single, "Sweeter Than Sugar" appeared in 1964 to no fanfare. Later that year "Say You" was released and earned Dove his first chart record. The next single, a cover of Wanda Jackson's "Right Or Wrong," put him into the Top 20. In 1965, he had 5 chart singles and after just three albums Diamond Records released a "best of" collection. His name was featured many times in both Billboard and Cashbox awards in 1965.

More hits came in 1966 and 1967 including "My Babe", "Cry", "Happy Summer Days" and others. In 1966, he began hosting a local television show in Baltimore called "The Ronnie Dove Show". It lasted for 13 episodes. Today, only 2 episodes survive. When Diamond closed in 1970, he moved, briefly, to Aubrey Mayhew's Certron Records. Shortly thereafter, he went to the independent Wrayco Records and released a Bobby Hebb cover of "Sunny". He then signed a new deal with Decca Records in 1971 and pointed his career in a more country oriented direction, scoring two minor country chart hits and an album. After this, he moved to the Motown country label Melodyland and had a top 40 country hit. During this period, he recorded two albums of country music, but neither ended up being released. Although he moved to some smaller, independent labels throughout the rest of the 1970s he still continued to record. He opened his own club in Baltimore and his fans were able to see him perform through the 1980s. He briefly revived the Diamond record label in 1987 to release a couple of singles and an album. These two singles managed to reach the lower rungs of Billboard's Country charts.

Dove quit show business in 1989 to care for his ailing mother. She passed away in 1991, and Dove resumed performing. Dove continues to perform in the Baltimore area (where he lives) and nationwide^[1]. There have been several compilations issued on CD, including "The Complete Original Chart Hits: 1964-69", available from Real Gone Music.^[2]

Discography

Albums

• Right Or Wrong (Ronnie Dove album) (Diamond Records No. 5002, 1964)
• The Swinging Teen Sounds of Ronnie Dove (Design Records, 1965)
• One Kiss for Old Times' Sake (Diamond Records No. 5003, 1965) U.S. No. 119^[3]
• I'll Make All Your Dreams Come True (Diamond Records No. 5004, 1965)
• The Best Of Ronnie Dove (Diamond Records No. 5005, 1966) U.S. No. 35
• Ronnie Dove Sings the Hits for You (Diamond Records No. 5006, 1966) U.S. No. 122
• Cry (Diamond Records No. 5007, 1967) U.S. No. 121
• The Best of Ronnie Dove Volume 2 (Diamond Records No. 5008, 1967)
• Ronnie Dove Greatest All-Time Hits (Certron Corporation #CS-7011, Stereo, 1970)
• Ronnie Dove (MCA Records No. 309 Stereo, 1973)
• Ronnie Dove Sings His Greatest Hits (Gusto Records (Power Pak) #PO-286, 1975)
• The Bird is Back (D.R.D. Records MS-4114, 1985)
• From the Heart (Diamond Records No. D-380-LP, 1988)
• The Complete Original Chart Hits: 1964-1969 (Real Gone Music, 2014)

Singles

DVDs

• "Time Capsule" (features his American Bandstand and Nashville Now performances among others.)
• "The Ronnie Dove Show" (features the only two surviving episodes of his television show from 1966.)

These two DVDs can be purchased from Ronnie's website (www.ronniedovemusic.com) ^[5]

References

[1]