He was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and also worked as a sideman in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.

[3] The album is considered an influential landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side".

[4] The next decade, John Cougar Mellencamp credited Ronson for helping to arrange his most successful hit single, "Jack & Diane".

With Ronson on board the Crestas gained a solid reputation, making regular appearances at local halls: Mondays at the Halfway House in Hull, Thursdays at the Ferryboat Hotel, Fridays at the Regal Ballroom in Beverley, and Sundays at the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby.

Ronson stayed in London and teamed up briefly with a soul band called The Wanted, before eventually returning to Hull.

Around this time, Ronson was recommended by Rick Kemp to play guitar on Michael Chapman's Fully Qualified Survivor album.

In March 1970, during the recording sessions for Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, Ronson played guitar on the track "Madman Across the Water".

The recording featuring Ronson was released on the 1992 compilation album, Rare Masters, as well as the 1995 reissue and 2008 deluxe edition of Tumbleweed Connection.

He found Ronson marking out a rugby pitch, one of his duties as a Parks Department gardener for Hull City Council.

Having failed in his earlier attempts in London, Ronson was reluctant, but eventually agreed to accompany Cambridge to a meeting with Bowie.

Two days later, on 5 February, Ronson made his debut with Bowie on John Peel's national BBC Radio 1 show.

The Hype played their first gig at The Roundhouse on 22 February with a line-up that included Bowie, Ronson, Cambridge, and producer/bassist Tony Visconti.

The group dressed up in superhero costumes, with Bowie as Rainbowman, Visconti as Hypeman, Ronson as Gangsterman, and Cambridge as Cowboyman.

[15] During the sessions for The Man Who Sold the World, the trio of Ronson, Visconti, and Woodmansey – still under The Hype moniker – signed to Vertigo Records.

Bowie's backing ensemble, which now included Trevor Bolder, who had replaced Visconti on bass guitar, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, were used in the recording of Hunky Dory.

[11] Again, Ronson was a key part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, providing string arrangements and various instrumentation, as well as playing lead guitar.

[18] In 1972 Ronson provided a strings-and-brass arrangement for the song "Sea Diver" on the Bowie-produced All the Young Dudes album for Mott the Hoople.

Ronson co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer with Bowie, playing lead guitar and piano on the songs "Perfect Day" and "Satellite of Love".

Ronson appeared on the 1972 country rock album Bustin' Out by Pure Prairie League, where he undertook string ensemble arrangements.

Ronson recorded "Angel #9" for his second solo LP Play Don't Worry, and string arrangements on "Boulder Skies" and "Call Me, Tell Me" .

In September 1983 he was a special guest at the Toronto leg of the Serious Moonlight Tour, playing lead guitar during the performance of "The Jean Genie".

[11] In 1980, the live album Welcome to the Club was released, including a couple of Ronson contributions, although it also contained a few studio-based tracks – one of which was a Hunter/Ronson song.

[citation needed] He also played guitar on Roger C. Reale's Reptiles in Motion album recorded in 1979 and not released until 2019, after the master tapes were acquired from the family of the original rights owners.

(John Mellencamp, Classic Rock magazine, January 2008, p.61) Both "Jack & Diane" and American Fool topped their respective US Billboard charts.

While in Sweden, Ronson wrote and produced three new songs with Estelle Millburne and Westerlund as EC2: "I'm So Sorry"/"Kiss Me" (1990), then a second single as ECII: "Passion" with a B-side cover of J. Kilette and K. Brown's "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".

[citation needed] In 1993, he again appeared on a Bowie album, Black Tie White Noise,[21] playing on the track "I Feel Free", originally recorded by Cream.

Artists involved with the album included Bowie, John Mellencamp, Joe Elliott, Ian Hunter, Chrissie Hynde, and Martin Chambers.

[citation needed] Ronson was also a member of Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" live band,[21] and can be seen both on and off-stage in the film of the tour.

[42] The show was written by Garry Burnett and Rupert Creed, and featured audio clips from friends and family, video, live narration and songs performed by a live rock band, which included ex-Rats bass player Keith 'Ched' Cheesman on guitar, Hull-born John Bentley (from Squeeze and a friend of Ronson's) on bass, plus John Cambridge, the ex-Rats and Hype drummer who introduced Ronson to Bowie, on drums, fronted on vocals by Hull musician Kristian Eastwood (ex JoKeRz) and rounded out with Hull singer/guitarist Bobby Joyce.

A 2017 feature-length biographical documentary entitled Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story[47][48] was directed by Jon Brewer produced by Cardinal Releasing.