Thompson's Singing Career
Thompson's father originally sang in a quartet in Augusta, and Ronnie developed similar interests at a young age. After he had left the Air Force, Thompson himself sang with a gospel quartet at Robins Air Force Base, and by 1955, having created his own quartet, he was heard on local radio in Macon. In time, he drifted into country music and made his first such record in 1958. In 1960, Thompson took over several radio and television programs for Friedman's Jewelers. His television show was broadcast in Macon, Augusta, and Asheville, North Carolina. An observer said that the telegenic Thompson "projects sincerity, with a seductive overlay of devotion, patriotism, and simple honesty. He is a pleasing public speaker, and he comes across beautifully on television."
Thompson's singing style was described as "pleasant Country-Western baritone-bass, with a hard 'r' twang." Thompson once admitted to occasionally wondering what might have happened had he stuck to music as a potential career, and insists that "I would have been successful had I stayed in the music business."
Thompson was in a line of southern politicians who had been musicians: Governor and U.S. Senator Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi, Governor W. Lee O'Daniel of Texas, and Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. Davis, immortalized for his song "You Are My Sunshine," once told Thompson, "If you want to have any success in politics, sing softly and carry a big guitar," a play on an old Theodore Roosevelt adage.
In Thompson's last year in office, he commissioned a portrait of the late African American singer Otis Redding, best known for "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay." He offered the portrait to Governor Busbee for use in the state capitol, but it remained in Macon until late in 2007, when it went missing in the transition between Mayor C. Jack Ellis, Macon's first black chief executive, and current Mayor Robert Reichert, a former Democratic member of the Georgia House. Thompson, through his career in gospel singing, had been personally friendly with Macon's well-known musicians, including Redding, James Brown, Little Richard, Wayne Cochran, and the Allman Brothers.
Read more about this topic: Ronnie Thompson (Georgia Politician)
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