Last September, about 20 close friends of Ronnie Hawkins, including Bill Clinton, came together in Toronto to celebrate the rock legend’s life. Perhaps some thought this could be the last time they’d see their friend alive.

Doctors diagnosed Hawkins with pancreatic cancer and gave him until last Christmas to live.

This summer, the doctors told Hawkins that there was no longer any sign of the tumour.

“The Hawk is on his way back so all you girls, get ready,” the 68-year-old says from his farm on Stoney Lake, near Peterborough. “Everything’s gone. Everything’s fixed. I’m healing up a little bit everyday.”

The disappearance of the tumour was especially surprising to doctors since Hawkins refused chemotherapy.

“That just makes you sick,” he says “It kills good cells and bad cells. That’s a last ditch effort.”

He turned to alternative medication. Herbal remedies, a mysterious concoction from a monk, even some Indian healers from Robbie Robertson of The Band, who used to play in Hawkins’ The Hawks; he tried them all. The cure might have come from a teenager in Vancouver named Adam, who some say has a special gift. Hawkins is not sure what exactly cured him.

“I could never say yes or no about any of this stuff. I believe in the Big Rocker. The Big Rocker could give certain people special things maybe.”

Next March, along with record label founder Jim West and television innovator Moses Znaimer, Hawkins he will be inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, an honour he says is at the top of his accomplishments.

“I’ve done my little thing in music, done everything I can so they’re saying that’s enough.”

Hawkins, born in Arkansas, took his rockabilly act to the “promised land” of Canada when he was 23. He has been playing in Canada for 46 years, winning a Juno Award and developing talent like Amy Sky and The Band.

He’s not slowing down now that he has a second-chance at life. In fact, he has a five-year-plan.

“I’m going to start playing with a super little rockabilly band I want to put together. And I want to play with them and do an album of all the rockabilly stuff I did in the old days. An album a year for five years and start the beginning of the tour that we play for people in bars or wherever they let us.”

And after those five years?

“Maybe I’ll do another one.”

Hawkins still performs today not only because he wants to, but because he has to. He once said that he is in so much debt, he has bankers getting him gigs because they don’t want anything to happen to him. Hawkins is still paying for his farm, where he accommodated John Lennon and Yoko Ono when they visited Toronto.

“I don’t want to sell this farm right now. We were going to have to sell it. It’s worth a lot of money. I can retire and live like a Pharaoh for the rest of my life I guess. Money is not that much but I can do a lot more if I have it.”

Another motivation is the ladies. He says they still flock to this hawk. The reason? “Good looks and a beautiful body,” he jokes.

“All rock and rollers have a problem with women flocking to them. All you have to do is learn some rock and roll songs and you’ll have to wear perfume repellent to keep them away from you.”






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