Mick Ronson

Guitarist, arranger, songwriter, producer, and perennial sideman Mick Ronson made his mark during glam rock's early-'70s heyday but worked consistently with frequent collaborators <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1Ov9t7KbQF0oz9B4JsMfV2">Ian Hunter</a> until his death in 1993. From 1967-1968 he played with a hometown garage rock group, the Rats, in Hull. In 1969, he was discovered by fledgling folksinger and producer <a href="spotify:artist:5slSOLb4CcoPOgptg4tsxo">Mike Chapman</a>, who asked him to join his recording band. From there he went on to collaborate with <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>, beginning with Space Oddity in 1969 and lasting through 1973's Pin-Ups. He arranged "Changes," among other songs on Hunky Dory (1972), and was <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>'s flamboyant guitarist in <a href="spotify:artist:6np1kzep4TkKxsH7Afzuk0">the Spiders from Mars</a> during the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972) album and tours. It has remained a mystery as to how much of <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>'s material Ronson wrote in exchange for "arrangement" credits, but his stamp is on some important records of the era: he co-produced <a href="spotify:artist:42TFhl7WlMRXiNqzSrnzPL">Lou Reed</a>'s Transformer (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA%22">RCA</a>, 1972) with <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a> and briefly joined <a href="spotify:artist:6ysQi6NI88X627t2srsWz6">Mott the Hoople</a> after working as an arranger on All the Young Dudes (1972). As glam rock faded, Ronson continued to work with <a href="spotify:artist:4kz8Ax2USW4Xae9WSQHVec">Hunter</a> in the Hunter Ronson Band, and as a songwriter, guitarist, and producer on <a href="spotify:artist:4kz8Ax2USW4Xae9WSQHVec">Hunter</a>'s solo work.

He recorded two solo albums for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Main+Man%22">Main Man</a>, Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1974) and Play Don't Worry (1975). His identifiable wah-wah sound straddled genres outside his beloved glam and hard rock, from Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue to <a href="spotify:artist:3iTsJGG39nMg9YiolUgLMQ">Morrissey</a>'s Your Arsenal (1992). Ronson consistently worked with divergent artists -- from <a href="spotify:artist:3ExrAwcOqgGjt9kFRwdM76">Roger McGuinn</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7qZdnGoW781UFYTcMpDilR">David Johansen</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:3lPQ2Fk5JOwGWAF3ORFCqH">John Mellencamp</a> ("Jack and Diane"). He and <a href="spotify:artist:4kz8Ax2USW4Xae9WSQHVec">Hunter</a> recorded YUI Orta in 1989 for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mercury%22">Mercury</a>, and in 1990 Ronson was diagnosed with cancer. He was reunited with <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a> for Black Tie White Noise (1993) and that same year appeared at a <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Freddie Mercury</a> tribute concert with <a href="spotify:artist:4kz8Ax2USW4Xae9WSQHVec">Hunter</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>. He made one final record with some help from his friends <a href="spotify:artist:4kz8Ax2USW4Xae9WSQHVec">Hunter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2ozLlEZTdSV3pjHgWwZMsi">Chrissie Hynde</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3lPQ2Fk5JOwGWAF3ORFCqH">Mellencamp</a>, Heaven 'n Hull (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Epic%22">Epic</a>), which was released posthumously in 1994. Just Like This, a two-disc collection of unreleased material, followed in 1999, and Showtime, a collection of live material, arrived the next year. ~ Denise Sullivan, Rovi