Career
Hamilton made the Top 10 in the United States with "Rainbow", but in the United Kingdom the song was the B-side of "We Will Make Love", which climbed high in the United Kingdom Singles Chart. Born as Ronald Hulme in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire, he was one of the first singer-songwriters of popular music to have come out of the city, and he was the first Liverpool artist to hit the United States music scene with his song "Rainbow" several years before the Beatles. In 1957, chart success in the United States. was a very unusual feat for a British performer and so it made Hamilton a hot property for a while.
As a result, Hamilton had to commute from one side of the Atlantic to the other to meet the demands for live performances.
A former Redcoat, Hamilton"s first hit in the United Kingdom was "We Will Make Love", which he recorded in 1957 for Oriole Records. However, in the United States., it was the B-side "Rainbow" that became the hit because, according to Hamilton himself, it was due to the United States. mistaking "Rainbow" to be the A-side of the single.
4 on Billboard "s Hot 100. The record sold over one million copies, and reached gold disc status.
In 1960, he was invited to Nashville, Tennessee and signed up with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Records.
In Nashville he recorded "Gonna Find Maine a Bluebird" with the Jordanaires and Chet Atkins. His success with record releases did not improve, and by the early 1960s he had dropped away from the foreground of the popular music scene. He has written many songs which were popular, especially in Asia.
Other songs such as "I Still Belong to You", "I Had a Dream" and "Reprieve of Tom Dooley" were quite popular.
He performed the song "I Had A Dream" on the Six-Five Special. However, this hit faded rapidly and has received little airplay in recent years.
Hamilton died on 11 October 2008, at the age of 76, at his home in Buckley, North Wales.
