John Hawken RIP

[Shamanzarek]

A founding member of The Nashville Teens and Renaissance keyboardist John Hawken has passed away at 84. John was also briefly a member of Spooky Tooth and was later a member of the Strawbs among other bands.

 

The Nashville Teens were known for their sole American hit "Tobacco Road" in 1964 which featured John's distinctive piano solo. In Britain they were considered to be one of the best live bands and backed visiting American artists including Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins on UK tours but most notably Jerry Lee Lewis in 1964 at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany which was recorded for one of Lewis' most critically acclaimed albums titled Live at the Star Club. 

 

In 1969 John co-founded Renaissance with former Yardbirds Keith Relf and Jim McCarty plus Louis Cennamo and Relf's sister Jane. This line-up released one album before all founding members left the band and completely new members took the band to greater success. Hawken with the surviving Renaissance founding members reformed the band in 1977 under the name Illusion and released two albums.

 

After brief stints with Spooky Tooth (who also recorded "Tobacco Road" on their first album), Third World War, and Vinegar Joe Hawken joined the Strawbs in 1973. Following in the footsteps of predecessors Rick Wakeman and long time Bee Gees keyboardist Blue Weaver with the Strawbs John played Piano, Mellotron, and Minimoog on the albums "Hero and Heroine" and "Ghosts" which were very successful in the Northeast US and Canada.

 

In 1979 John and his family relocated to the U.S. residing in New Jersey. In 2004 he reunited with the Strawbs and I first met him at a Strawbs concert at The Strand in Lakewood, NJ. About a month later I was invited to a party where John was the distinguished guest along with Strawbs sound engineer Paul Smith. Before going to the party I went over "Tobacco Road" and a Strawbs song. At the party there were a couple of other guitar players and we played a lot of songs with John. John demonstrated some of his piano parts from Renaissance and Nashville Teens.

 

Several years later John was in a local NJ band that opened a show for our Doors Tribute band. He was impressed with my Vox Continental saying he hadn't seen one in years. His band played "Tobacco Road" and the Spooky Tooth version of "I Am the Walrus". 

 

John Hawken was there from the beginning of British Rock history. It was great to hang out with him and hear his stories about the British Invasion days and more. Good-bye John.

 

https://bournemouthbeatboom.wordpress.com/john-hawken-2/

 

 

[mcgoo]

I still have the 1st Illusion album. I never knew the history of the band. Great read. And yes, great player. Rip Mr. Hawken. 

[Legatoboy]

live

[AnotherScott]

 

[Shamanzarek]

This is where I first saw John Hawken when I was 13. "Tobacco Road" was on the radio and his playing made a big impression on me back then.

 

Here are some Nashville Teens performances some live and some mimed. John appears with a Hohner Pianet in one clip. I asked John if he ever used one and he said he always used a real piano for live performances. Another thing I asked him about was if Jimmy Page played on "Tobacco Road" as there were a few sources crediting him. John confirmed that it was their guitarist and not Jimmy Page on the recording. To me even though there are other great versions of "Tobacco Road" theirs is the definitive version. Love the piano and dual lead vocals.

 

With The Strawbs in Japan 1975.

 

[Ivan May]

15 hours ago, Shamanzarek said:

A founding member of The Nashville Teens and Renaissance keyboardist John Hawken has passed away at 84. John was also briefly a member of Spooky Tooth and was later a member of the Strawbs among other bands.

 

The Nashville Teens were known for their sole American hit "Tobacco Road" in 1964 which featured John's distinctive piano solo. In Britain they were considered to be one of the best live bands and backed visiting American artists including Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins on UK tours but most notably Jerry Lee Lewis in 1964 at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany which was recorded for one of Lewis' most critically acclaimed albums titled Live at the Star Club. 

 

In 1969 John co-founded Renaissance with former Yardbirds Keith Relf and Jim McCarty plus Louis Cennamo and Relf's sister Jane. This line-up released one album before all founding members left the band and completely new members took the band to greater success. Hawken with the surviving Renaissance founding members reformed the band in 1977 under the name Illusion and released two albums.

 

After brief stints with Spooky Tooth (who also recorded "Tobacco Road" on their first album), Third World War, and Vinegar Joe Hawken joined the Strawbs in 1973. Following in the footsteps of predecessors Rick Wakeman and long time Bee Gees keyboardist Blue Weaver with the Strawbs John played Piano, Mellotron, and Minimoog on the albums "Hero and Heroine" and "Ghosts" which were very successful in the Northeast US and Canada.

 

In 1979 John and his family relocated to the U.S. residing in New Jersey. In 2004 he reunited with the Strawbs and I first met him at a Strawbs concert at The Strand in Lakewood, NJ. About a month later I was invited to a party where John was the distinguished guest along with Strawbs sound engineer Paul Smith. Before going to the party I went over "Tobacco Road" and a Strawbs song. At the party there were a couple of other guitar players and we played a lot of songs with John. John demonstrated some of his piano parts from Renaissance and Nashville Teens.

 

Several years later John was in a local NJ band that opened a show for our Doors Tribute band. He was impressed with my Vox Continental saying he hadn't seen one in years. His band played "Tobacco Road" and the Spooky Tooth version of "I Am the Walrus". 

 

John Hawken was there from the beginning of British Rock history. It was great to hang out with him and hear his stories about the British Invasion days and more. Good-bye John.

 

https://bournemouthbeatboom.wordpress.com/john-hawken-2/

 

 

I believe that Michael Dunford, who was the guitarist for Renaissance for several years, was also a member of The Nashville Teens alongside John Hawken. Anyways, I don't think John Hawken was in Renaissance for very long, he played on their first few albums and then John Tout joined in 1972.

[Shamanzarek]

After Jim McCarty and Keith Relf left Renaissance John Hawken brought in two former members of the Nashville Teens. Both Dunford and singer Terry Crowe had been early members of the Nashville Teens but left the band before they recorded "Tobacco Road". The original Renaissance line-up fell apart within about a year. Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, though they had stopped playing with the band remained involved in production and songwriting for a while as new members came in. Dunford stayed with Renaissance for many years as co-writer of much of their material and played acoustic guitar while Crowe was in the band very briefly. Hawken was on the first Renaissance album and a second album which was only released in Germany at the time. The second album was titled Illusion and had a few new members including Dunford and Crowe. Don Shinn (early inspiration to Keith Emerson) is credited with keyboards on one song.