The second oldest of eight surviving children Ronnie ‘SportCoat’ Overton was born 1953 in Pontiac Michigan. His parents Christine and Norman encouraged Ronnie to follow his musical dream from an early age and like a lot of musicians in grade school he started out by playing the violin. Despite a scare when he broke his first string, and was fearful of what his teacher’s reaction might be, he stuck with it and expanded his horizons to the cello before the sixties in general, and the Beatles in particular began to intoxicate him. He just had to have a guitar and, and hooking up with some childhood friends, formed the fabulously titled Soulful Determinations. Despite a few false starts he finally switched to bass guitar and in 1972, at age 19, got his first gig as part of Ronnie McNeir’s touring band. He played with McNeir (who is currently with the Four Tops) and Kim Weston until 1978. But after a two year layoff the attraction of the road proved too strong and he resumed touring, this time with 50’s doo-wop band The Del Vickings which he stayed with until 1988. At which time Ronnie did some reflecting and began to draw on his faith and his beliefs, he used this time to hone his keyboard skills and develop his own tunes. This led directly to his first solo project ‘When The Smoke Clears’ , a collection much stronger for the fact that it is based on his own life experiences. Five years in the making, it’s been described in part as music to make babies by and, accepting it’s sensuous nature, is nevertheless a fine example of feel good music designed to cover a range of moods and emotions. In creating it Ronnie had the chance to reconnect with some talented musicians that include McNeir, David Finley, Charles Anthony, Derek ‘DJ’ Johnson, Marcus Cummings, Darryl Wakefield and Danny Carthane. The end product endures that whether you want to tap your feet or simply enjoy music while ‘driving with the top down’, ‘When the Smoke Clears’ has something for everyone.