A Dixie Cup remembered: Rosa Hawkins' sister reflects on the loss of 'a very strong woman'

Rosa Lee Hawkins of the Dixie Cups has died of complications from surgery less than a year after sharing her story in "Chapel of Love," a memoir named in honor of the New Orleans vocal group's chart-topping breakthrough.

Hawkins died on Tuesday, Jan. 11.

She was 76.

Hawkins was fresh out of high school when the Dixie Cups displaced the Beatles' "Love Me Do" at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 with "Chapel of Love," a starry-eyed Brill Building classic captured at their first recording date.

That million-selling breakthrough spent three weeks at No. 1 in June of 1964, the first of three hit singles for the group, which also featured Hawkins' older sister Barbara Ann and cousin Joan Marie Johnson.

"She was a very strong woman," Barbara Hawkins said.

"She loved her family. She loved what she was doing. And she enjoyed performing because the Dixie Cups motto is to bring a smile to everyone's face. If we can do that when we sing, then our job is done. We're happy. So that was important to her."

'Chapel of Love' was a heartbreaking memoir

The Dixie Cups' success came at a price, as Rosa revealed in heartbreaking and at times harrowing detail in the memoir she wrote with Phoenix journalist Steve Bergsman, whose other books include "I Put a Spell on You: The Bizarre Life of Screamin' Jay Hawkins" and "The Death of Johnny Ace."

The Dixie Cups were subject to a pattern of abuse and exploitation, both financially and in Rosa's case, sexually, at the hands of a much older manager.

In an interview last year with the Arizona Republic, Rosa said, "I didn't realize I had pushed all that down, as people say. A couple times, Steve called and I'd start talking and I would say, 'I've gotta do this tomorrow.' I didn't realize how much it affected me."

She was glad she shared her story, though.

As Barbara said, occasionally pausing as she struggled to hold back the tears, "I think that was the most important thing on her quote-unquote bucket list. She wrote the book because she wanted young people who were coming into the business to know what kind of sharks there are out there and that by telling them what happened to her, that it wouldn't happen to them."

Bergsman said she was "very determined" to write the book.

"Rosa kept her story of cruelty, abuse and rape at the hands of her manager for most of her life," he said. "It was only toward the end that she decided to unburden."

Word of Rosa's death came as "heartbreaking news" to Bergsman, who said, "I always think when I hear about the death of someone from this generation of song that we lost another music pioneer."

At the time of Rosa's death, the Hawkins sisters were living together in Tampa, Florida, where they moved when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

"We've been together all our lives," Barbara said. "She was my little sister. And when we started the group, it was amazing that we needed another voice and I said, 'Let's use my sister.' So we did. And then the Dixie Cups were born."

Rosa "would do anything to help anybody that was in trouble," Barbara said.

Sun Records is reissuing 'Chapel of Love' in June

In June, Sun Records is reissuing the Dixie Cups first album, "Chapel of Love," on vinyl.

"This year is Sun's 70th year in business," Barbara said.

"So every month this year, they're gonna release a record. I don't know who the January one is. I just know about us because they asked which month I wanted and I said June because of weddings. Rosa was so looking forward to that."

The sisters were still doing concerts as the Dixie Cups with Athelgra Neville Gabriel, a childhood friend whose brothers are the legendary Neville Brothers, rounding out the lineup since Johnson's death in 2016.

"The only reason we hadn't been performing was because of the pandemic. Our dates had been canceled," Barbara said.

"But we have Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, a cruise and something else coming up so far for 2022. She was looking forward to performing."

When she spoke to the Republic last year, Rosa said she liked to draw on the career advice her mother, a singer for Papa Celestin's Tuxedo Jazz Band, shared with her when she was young.

"She said, 'In order for you to stand on stage and sing, it has to come from your heart. If you're just there to have the limousine pick you up and petals at your feet going up to the dressing room, it doesn't last. You have good times and bad times. And if you can get through the bad times with a smile on your face and go ahead and do what you need to do, you can last.'"

The Dixie Cups plan to keep singing

Barbara plans to keep the Dixie Cups going with her sister's blessings.

"She told me, 'Please don't stop singing,'" Barbara said.

Her sister's presence will be missed, of course.

"She brought laughter to the Dixie Cups," Barbara said. "A lot of happiness. She used to tell jokes and make us laugh. She was a model and taught modeling so she would do a lot of coordinating the colors we wore and stuff like that. She would pick out the jewelry."

Rosa loved to travel.

"She loved meeting people," Barbara said.

"One of our favorite places to visit was England. And Hawaii. When we went overseas to entertain the troops, she enjoyed that a lot because we brought smiles to so many faces. In the last two or three years, we've had a couple of soldiers who were in Vietnam and saw us write to us. And that meant so much to us."

Barbara said her sister asked that she be cremated.

"So we're going to cremate her here in Tampa," Barbara said.

"And then we're going to take the ashes home and have a memorial. She said 'I don't want to be sitting on nobody's table in an urn so take a riverboat cruise and sprinkle my ashes in the river.' So we're gonna abide by her wishes."

Rose Lee Hawkins is survived by sisters Barbara Ann and Shirley Hawkins Washington; Eric Blanc, a son that Barbara said she "worshiped," his wife, Dori, and their children, Kendal Blanc and Eric Blanc II.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Remembering Rosa Hawkins of the Dixie Cups: A sister shares her grief