Ronnie Dove

Ronald Eugene Dove (September 7, 1935 – September 15, 2026) was an American pop and country music singer who had a string of hit pop records in the mid- to late 1960s, and several country chart records in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ronnie Dove was born in Herndon, Virginia on September 7, 1935. He was the only son of Fairfax County, Virginia police sergeant Paul S. Dove and his first wife, Catherine Pearl, née Smith Dove Rusk. 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.

Dove went solo and signed with Diamond Records in 1964. His debut solo single, "Sweeter Than Sugar", appeared in April 1964 to no national fanfare, though it did appear in some local hit parades. Later that year, Diamond released "Say You", which peaked at position #40 by means of the Billboard hit parade, and became his first national hit parade success. The next single, a cover of Wanda Jackson's "Right Or Wrong," put him into the Top 20. In 1965, he had five chart singles, and after just three albums, Diamond Records released a "best of" collection. Dove's name was featured many times in the Billboard and Cashbox awards in 1965.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.