5.31.2009

Smoke Dreams




Ronnie Deauville Smoke Dreams LP (Era, 1957)

Had this album turned out to be a dud, I would have been satisfied with staring at the record cover. What a fantastic sleeve! Then there are the tunes: slow and smokey, boozy and torched, they sound like what the are: music from another time and place. There are pretty good odds that most of the people involved in making this record are dead. And to top it off, Ronnie Deauville has a great back story. He had a short singing career and then was the victim of a car crash and polio, was paralyzed from the neck down and had to relearn how to sing. And then he made this record. As the people at Ill Folks write "A combination of factors...limited breathing ability, the difficulty of attracting female fans to a handicapped male singer, the physical problems of getting around to clubs or TV dates...led Ronnie to move behind the scenes, doing song-dubbing for less talented movie stars. He eventually retired to Florida with his wife and children, and passed away from cancer on Christmas Eve, 1990."



# posted by Scott Soriano : 07:42
Comments:
Sounds just like the album cover. Lovely noir mood.
# posted by Blogger Mr Fab : 23:28
 
Thanks for the pithy write-ups and long-lost music -I totally dig your site!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 11:56
 
Nice song here Scott. This is a cool site.

-Ed C
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 12:38
 
More Ronnie Deauville songs and albums, including Smoke Dreams and Romance With Ronnie may be downloaded or played online at:

http://www.box.net/ronniedeauville/
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 13:59
 
Scott - Do you have any update information on his wife and kids? I knew him in the late 60s and knew he had been a singer but this was the first time I had heard him sing. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for any information.
billpaints@yahoo.com
# posted by Anonymous billpaints : 15:47
 
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