48 Facts About Mick Ronson

Michael Ronson was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer.

Mick Ronson achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars.

Mick Ronson was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and worked as a sideman in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.

Mick Ronson recorded five solo studio albums, the most popular being Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which reached No 9 on the UK Albums Chart.

Mick Ronson played with various bands after his time with Bowie.

Mick Ronson was named the 64th-greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2003 and 41st in 2012 by the same magazine.

Michael Mick Ronson was born in Kingston upon Hull in East Riding.

Mick Ronson was the first son of George and Minnie Ronson and had two younger siblings, Maggi and David.

Mick Ronson initially wanted to be a cellist, but moved to guitar upon discovering the music of Duane Eddy, whose sound on the bass notes of his guitar sounded to Ronson similar to that of the cello.

Mick Ronson joined his first band, The Mariners, in November 1963, when he was 17.

In 1965, Mick Ronson left The Crestas, moving to London to seek work.

Mick Ronson took a part-time job as a mechanic, and joined a band called The Voice, replacing Miller Anderson.

Mick Ronson stayed in London and briefly teamed with a soul band called The Wanted, before eventually returning to Hull.

Around that time, Mick Ronson was recommended by Rick Kemp to play guitar on Michael Chapman's Fully Qualified Survivor album.

In March 1970, during the recording sessions for Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, Mick Ronson played guitar on the track "Madman Across the Water".

The recording featuring Mick Ronson was released on the 1992 compilation album, Rare Masters, as well as the 1995 reissue and 2008 deluxe edition of Tumbleweed Connection.

Mick Ronson found Ronson marking out a rugby pitch, one of his duties as a Parks Department gardener for Hull City Council.

Again, Mick Ronson was a key part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, providing string arrangements and various instrumentation, as well as playing lead guitar.

In 1972 Mick Ronson provided a strings-and-brass arrangement for the song "Sea Diver" on the Bowie-produced All the Young Dudes album for Mott the Hoople.

Mick Ronson co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer with Bowie, playing lead guitar and piano on the songs "Perfect Day" and "Satellite of Love".

Again with Bowie, Mick Ronson re-recorded and produced the track "The Man Who Sold the World" for Lulu, released as a single in the UK, and played on a few tracks on the Dana Gillespie album Weren't Born a Man.

Mick Ronson appeared on the 1972 country rock album Bustin' Out by Pure Prairie League, where he undertook string ensemble arrangements.

Mick Ronson had only been asked to play the day before, and later recalled:.

Mick Ronson was very much a salt-of-the-earth type, the blunt northerner with a defiantly masculine personality, so that what you got was the old-fashioned Yin and Yang thing.

Ziggy and Mick Ronson were the personification of that rock n roll dualism.

Between this and the 1975 follow-up, Mick Ronson had a short-lived stint with Mott the Hoople.

Mick Ronson then became a long-time collaborator with Mott's former leader Ian Hunter, commencing with the album Ian Hunter and featuring the UK Singles Chart No 14 hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", including a spell touring as the Hunter Mick Ronson Band.

In 1974, Mick Ronson secured the No 2 spot from a reader's poll in Creem magazine as the best guitarist that year, and Eric Clapton in third place after Mick Ronson.

Mick Ronson contributed guitar to the title track of the 1976 David Cassidy release Getting It in the Street.

Mick Ronson played guitar on Roger C Reale's Reptiles in Motion album recorded in 1979 and not released until 2019, after the master tapes were acquired from the family of the original rights owners.

Mick Ronson was very instrumental in helping me arrange that song, as I'd thrown it on the junk heap.

Mick Ronson came down and played on three or four tracks and worked on the American Fool record for four or five weeks.

Mick Ronson was recruited to Midge Ure's band for Ure's Gift tour in 1985.

Mick Ronson produced Bowie's cover of the Morrissey-penned "I Know It's Gonna Happen".

Besides working with Bowie and Hunter, Mick Ronson was a musician, songwriter, and record producer with many other acts.

Mick Ronson did not restrict his influence behind the recording desk only to established acts; his production work appears on albums by more obscure artists, such as Payolas, Phil Rambow and Los Illegals, The Mundanes, the Italian band Moda and the Dutch band Fatal Flowers.

Mick Ronson produced The Visible Targets, a Seattle-based group, on their 1983 five track EP, Autistic Savant.

Mick Ronson was a member of Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" live band, and can be seen both on and off-stage in the film of the tour.

Mick Ronson made a connection with Roger McGuinn during this time, which led to his producing and contributing guitar and arrangements to McGuinn's 1976 solo album Cardiff Rose.

In 1987, Mick Ronson made an appearance on a record by The Toll.

Mick Ronson played lead on the band's song, "Stand in Winter", from the album The Price of Progression.

In 1991, Mick Ronson produced the Swedish cult band the Leather Nun's album, Nun Permanent, adding backing vocals and guitar overdubs on several tracks.

Mick Ronson played on "All the Young Dudes" with Bowie and Hunter; and "Heroes" with Bowie.

Mick Ronson's final recorded session was as a guest on Earth vs the Wildhearts, a 1993 album by the Wildhearts where he played the guitar solo on the song "My Baby is a Headf_".

Liner notes for the Earth vs the Wildhearts album give credit to Mick Ronson for guitar on the track "My Baby Is A Headf_" and the "album is dedicated to Mick Ronson".

Mick Ronson was married in Bearsville, New York in March 1977 to Suzanne Fussey, a hairdresser, who worked for David Bowie at the same time that Mick Ronson did.

Mick Ronson died of liver cancer on 29 April 1993, aged 46.

In October 2017 the documentary, Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, was released by Gross US and directed by Jon Brewer.