Not to be confused with American country singer Rodney Atkins, Ronnie Atkins is a Danish vocalist best known for his work with the hard-edged band Pretty Maids. He was born as "Paul Christensen" on November 16, 1964, in Vejle, Denmark. He joined Pretty Maids' lineup in 1982, one year after guitarist Ken Hammer and singer John Jacobsen founded the group. With Atkins taking Jacobsen's place as the band's frontman, the band debuted in 1984 with the album Red Hot and Heavy. The album was heralded as a landmark of heavy metal music, influencing numerous bands that followed in Pretty Maids' wake. Pretty Maids continued to release albums well into the 21st century, reaching number 165 on the Billboard 200 with 1987's Future World and regularly charting in Germany with subsequent albums like 1990's Jump the Gun, 1992's Sin-Decade, 1997's Spooked, and 1999's Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing. Pretty Maids broke into the German Top 40 for the first time in 2016, when Kingmaker hit number 36. Several years later, Atkins made his solo debut with the 2021 album One Shot, which was released by Frontier Records. One Shot hit number 15 in Denmark, number 19 in Germany, and number 8 on Switzerland, giving Atkins some of the highest chart placements of his career. He continued releasing solo material with 2022's Make it Count and 2023's Trinity, the latter of which peaked at number 59 in Japan.
