Ron Haffkine was born in New York City, New York, on December 13,1938.
18 Facts About Ron Haffkine
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Ron Haffkine contracted polio, at age 12, and remained completely paralyzed for 2 years.
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At 21, Ron was a musician and composer in Greenwich Village who met and became good friends with 28 year old Shel Silverstein, an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books.
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When finished, Ron Haffkine played it for Shel, known as the writer of "A Boy Named Sue," which Johnny Cash parlayed into a hit, he was so impressed that he told Ron Haffkine about a couple of films that he was writing the soundtrack for and that he needed someone to produce the music.
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Ron Haffkine became the musical director for free for the Herb Gardner movie Who is Harry Kellerman in which Dustin Hoffman, the star of The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy and Little Big Man, played a songwriter.
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Ron Haffkine had heard them playing in a bar called The Sands, in Union City, New Jersey.
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Unrelenting, Ron Haffkine offered to pay for a showcase of the group on the condition that they all attend.
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Ron Haffkine felt that the film would not be a great box office hit but the soundtrack had a lot of momentum so he arranged a meeting with Clive Davis, CBS Records described in Davis's autobiography.
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Ron Haffkine produced the soundtrack of the 1970 film featuring Silverstein songs performed by Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.
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Ron Haffkine knew that If they put out another 'Sylvia's Mother'.
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When Ron Haffkine found a little tune called A Little Bit More, written and originally performed by Bobby Gosh, on a vinyl record, released on his 1973 album Sitting in the Quiet at a flea market for 35 cents in San Francisco, things exploded for Dr Hook.
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Ron Haffkine loved it, but said " there's a weak line, fix the line and bring it back".
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In 1983 Ron Haffkine produced Lou Rawls on the first version of Wind Beneath My Wings, a song made famous by Bette Midler.
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Ron Haffkine found Daniel driving a beer truck in Nashville, TN and produced his debut album.
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Ron Haffkine produced 10 studio albums and 2 live albums on Dr Hook, which garnered 10 top tens on the pop charts in the US and 67 gold and platinum awards worldwide.
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Ron Haffkine came out of retirement to help develop a new duo Dawn and Nash from 2013 to 2018, formerly known as "Tawny River".
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Ron Haffkine died from leukemia and kidney failure at his home in Mexico, on October 1,2023, at the age of 84.
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Together with longtime friend and writer Shel Silverstein, Ron Haffkine produced and released "Where the Sidewalk Ends" on cassette in 1983, as an LP phonograph record in 1984, winning the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children.