Bonnie Lou
| Bonnie Lou | |
|---|---|
Bonnie Lou in a 1972 publicity photo
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mary Joan Kath |
| Also known as | Bonnie Lou |
| Born |
October 27, 1924 Towanda, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 8, 2015 (aged 91) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Genres | Country, rock and roll, rockabilly |
| Occupation(s) | Singer Musician TV and radio host |
| Years active | 1940s–1980s |
| Labels |
King Records Fraternity Records |
| Associated acts | Janis Martin, Wanda Jackson, Jo Ann Campbell |
Mary Joan Okum (née Kath; October 27, 1924 – December 8, 2015), known by her performing name Bonnie Lou, was an American musical pioneer, recognized as one of the first female rock and roll singers. She is also one of the first artists to gain crossover success from country music to rock and roll. She was the "top name" on the first country music program regularly broadcast on a national TV network. Bonnie Lou was one of the first female co-hosts of a successful syndicated television talk show, and a regular musical performer on popular shows in the 1960s and 1970s. She "was a prime mover in the first days of rockabilly," and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Kath's parents were Arthur (1899–1977) and Eva Kath (1905–2000). She had a brother, Arthur (1926–2003), and a sister, Eleanor McConkey. "I was named after my grandmother Mary, and my grandfather Joe; and my mother added the -an onto the end of it," Bonnie Lou noted in a 2007 interview. When the family home in Towanda burned down, they moved to Carlock, Illinois, where her father became a tenant farmer.
Kath grew up listening to Patsy Montana and her band "The Prairie Ramblers", and was greatly inspired by her. She learned how to yodel from her maternal grandmother Mary, who had emigrated from Switzerland. She started violin lessons when she was five, and her father bought her a "two dollar-and-a half pawnshop guitar" when she was 11.
In 1941, aged 16, she was singing and performing on WJBC (AM) in Bloomington, Illinois. At 17, after she graduated from high school, she sent an audition record to KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri, and was signed to a five-year contract to perform on the Brush Creek Follies barn dance show as "Sally Carson," and with a group called The Rhythm Rangers. The show was broadcast nationwide on the Columbia Broadcasting Service, and has been described as "one of the biggest music programs in the country" at the time. A newspaper columnist described her opening in Kansas City:
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