Ronald Eugene Dove is an American pop and country musician who had a string of hit pop records in the mid to late 1960s and several country chart records in the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life
Ronnie Dove, the only son of Fairfax County, Virginiapolice sergeant Paul S. Dove and his first wife, Catherine Pearl nee Smith Dove Rusk, was born in Herndon, Virginia, United States, his older sister is Marjorie L. Forrester. During his stint in the Coast Guard, Dove began his singing career in the clubs of Baltimore, where he was stationed. He formed a group, The Belltones, and they played Baltimore and the East Coast for four years. In 1959, they recorded their debut single "Lover Boy" on their own label. In 1961, they released a cover of the Buddy Knox hit "Party Doll" on Decca Records, but it failed to chart. They issued one more single on Jalo Records before the group broke up and Dove went solo.
Career
He went solo and signed with Diamond Records in 1964. His first solo single, "Sweeter Than Sugar" appeared in April 1964 to no national fanfare, though it did appear in some local surveys. Later that year, Diamond released "Say You" and earned Dove his first chart record. The next single, a cover of Wanda Jackson's "Right Or Wrong," put him into the Top 20. In 1965, he had 5 chart singles and after just three albums Diamond Records released a "best of" collection. His name was featured many times in both Billboard and Cashbox awards in 1965. More hits came in 1966 and 1967 including "My Babe", “Cry”, "Happy Summer Days" and several others. After releasing his cover of Johnnie Ray’s song “Cry”, Ronnie appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing the song. He continued to record for Diamond until it was sold in 1970 to Aubrey Mayhew's Certron Records. There, he recorded a live album and several singles that went unreleased. However, Certron did issue a “Greatest Hits” compilation of his Diamond songs, as well as one unreleased song. The label had money issues from the start and went bankrupt in 1971. Shortly thereafter, he went to the independent Wrayco Records and released a Bobby Hebb cover of the song "Sunny”. The single received no promotion from the label and subsequently failed to chart.
Country music
After his stints with Certron and Wrayco, he signed a new deal with Decca Records in 1971 and pointed his career in a more country oriented direction, scoring two minor country chart hits and an album. Later, he moved to the Motown country label Melodyland and had a top 40 country hit with a cover of Bobby Darin’s "Things", which would become his highest charting country hit. During this period, he recorded two albums of country music, but neither ended up being released. Although he moved to some smaller, independent labels throughout the rest of the 1970’s and 1980’s, he still continued to record. Dove opened his own club in Baltimore, and his fans were able to see him perform through the 1980s. He briefly revived the Diamond record label in 1987 to release a couple of singles and an album. These two singles managed to reach the lower rungs of Billboard's Country charts.
Later career
Dove quit show business in 1989 to care for his ailing mother. She died in 1991, and Dove resumed performing. Dove continues to perform, mostly on the East Coast, and nationwide. There have been several compilations issued on CD, including The Complete Original Chart Hits: 1964-69, available from Real Gone Music. In 2018, Ronnie Dove Music reissued his 1967 album Cry album digitally, sourced from newly available tapes. The other albums will also be reissued in the future. In 2019, Ronnie’s song “Happy Summer Days” was featured in an Amazon commercial.
A “Right or Wrong” also peaked at #4 on the Cashbox R&B chart. Billboard was not printing National R&B charts at the time. It was Ronnie’s only record to hit the R&B chart.
DVDs
"Time Capsule"
"The Ronnie Dove Show"
These two DVDs can be purchased from Dove's website.
