Return to Rock-and-Roll Page.Bonnie Guitar was born Bonnie Buckingham on March 25, 1923 in Seattle. She was primarily a country singer and songwriter, but also worked as a session guitarist in Los Angeles in the mid-50's [that is how she picked up the name, Bonnie Guitar]. She had a top ten hit on the pop charts with Dark Moon in 1957.
In order to make records for her fans, she started her own label with Bob Reisdorff and called it Dolphin. They signed a trio that had formed in an Olympia high school called the Fleetwoods, who promptly delivered a number one song with Come Softly To Me in 1959. The name of the label was changed to Dolton and the Fleetwoods recorded the next of their nine top 40 hits, Graduation's Here, followed by what was to become their second [and last] number one hit, Mr. Blue, later in the same year. Bonnie then came up with an even bigger artist when the Ventures came on board with Dolton and released their hit, Walk Don't Run, which reached number two on the national pop charts in 1960. The Ventures continued with Dolton through much of the 60's until it was sold, then recorded for Liberty.
Following the success of her own recording of Dark Moon on the Dot label, Bonnie had two more minor pop hits on Dot and one on Dolton. As her own career was beginning to take off, she sold Dolton which ended up with Liberty, and now is known as EMI. In the late 60's Bonnie put eight songs in the top forty on the country charts, including top ten songs I'm Living In Two Worlds, A Woman In Love, and I Believe In Love. She issued a number of albums on Dot and one on ABC-Paramount, and others on some minor labels. She continued putting songs on the country charts in the 70's and early 80's. Some of her songs were recorded by other artists, including Eddie Arnold, with whom Bonnie toured in the 60's.
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