Celebrity Death: Ray Sawyer, vocalist for Dr. Hook, 81

[Acadmus]

This one slipped by quietly, I guess the last celebrity death of 2018 on the 31st. Ray Sawyer's eyepatch (worn since a near fatal car accident in 1967) was the inspiration for the band's name. He sang backup on most songs, but sang lead on "The Cover of Rolling Stone".

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[Jumptheshark]

I saw it and did not create a thread on it because I am trying to keep away from posting only threads about death on this board

Love that song

 

[the squared circle]

Rip
They also had the wonderfully sad song Sylvia’s Mother. Love that tune.

 

[mmalady]

RIP
Loved these guys..saw them 4x...twice ray and the band were unbelievable the other two times they were late arriving and Ray hummed most of words and babbled in between songs lol.. so basically they were either at their best or their worst, you just never knew but it didn't discourage me or their fans cuz when they were "on" they were incredible...their greatest hits CD will forever be known (by me) as the best "getting groovy" tunes..if you know what i mean lol

 

[Acadmus]

Rip
They also had the wonderfully sad song Sylvia’s Mother. Love that tune.

Yeah, that's my favorite by them too. I do have to say though that Dennis Lecorriere's vocals make me wonder how serious the band actually was about making good music I somehow remained oblivious to them for decades, despite I'm fairly sure I recall "Sexy Eyes" in my very young years. With the magic radio I'm becoming a little more familiar with acts then and often wonder "how have I not heard of a band that had multiple top-40 hits from 1971-1980?" They had 6 top-10s and 2 other top-15 singles. Nothing new in that, really - I didn't know Leo Sayer or Cliff Richard by name even though I knew and never forgot some of their songs.

BTW - Sylvia's Mother was written by Shel Silverstein (of Where the Sidewalk Ends fame)...as were most of the songs on their early albums. Apparently the connection was made on a 1970 film where Silverstein was writing the songs and the music director decided Dr. Hook had the right sound for the movie.

 

[Acadmus]