Bonnie Lou
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bonnie Lou | ||
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 Bonnie Lou's 2000 CD compilation album that featured all of her biggest hits under King Records.
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Mary Jo Kath | |
| Also known as | Bonnie Lou | |
| Born | October 27, 1924 | |
| Origin | Talawanda, Indiana | |
| Genre(s) | Country, Rock & Roll, Rockabilly | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer | |
| Years active | 1953-1960s | |
| Label(s) | King Records Fraternity Records |
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| 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 woimen 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 Indiana. Mary grew up listening to Patsy Montana and her band "The Prarie 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" in Ohio, where the station executive Bill McLuskey hired Mary as a singer an yodeler for his radio show called Midwestern Hayride Country & Western Radio Program. McLuskey, all gave Lou the stage name she would be known for the rest of her life, "Bonnie Lou". While on the radio show in Ohio, Lou performed regulary with Country Music girl group the Girls of the Golden West, which Lou listened to as a child.
Bonnie Lou continued performances on the radio 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.
Bonnie continued to stay with Country Music, regulary appearing on Midwestern Hayride, which spun off a television series called Louisiana Hayride. Lou soon retired from the music business. She settled in Cincinnati, with her husband Milt.
[edit] Later Career & Life Today
Lou met her husband Milt Okum, who she has claimed is one of biggest supporters. They currently have homes in Cincinnati, Ohio and Cape Coral, Florida. Lou soon changed her name after marrying Milt to her real name Mary Jo, and changing her last name to Okum, her husband's name. 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 Lonley 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 |
