Ray Sawyer, Singer For The 70's band Dr. Hook, Dies
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Ray Sawyer, whose lead vocal on Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show ’s 1972-73 top 10 single “The Cover of Rolling Stone” landed the band on the cover of Rolling Stone , has died. Although he generally sang backup vocals with the group, his lead turn on that song, written by Shel Silverstein, gave the band one of its biggest hits. Sawyer died today (Dec. 31) in Daytona Beach, Fla., of an unspecified cause. He was 81.
Sawyer was born in Chickasaw, Ala., on Feb. 1, 1937, and lost his right eye in an automobile accident in 1967. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s roots stretched back to a southern band formed that same year, called the Chocolate Papers, which had some success touring but not on disc. After that act fizzled, two of its members, George Cummings and Sawyer, relocated to Union City, N.J., just 15 minutes outside of Manhattan, and recruited a local bassist, Dennis Locorriere. Billy Francis, another ex-Chocolate Paper, rejoined his old pals, a couple of other musicians were added and they were soon on their way.
Not much happened with the band—which took on the Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show moniker due to Sawyer’s eye patch—until 1970, when it was tapped to cut the soundtrack music for a new Dustin Hoffman flick called Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? , which featured songs written by poet/cartoonist Silverstein. The film, which included Dr. Hook performing the song “Bunky and Lucille” onscreen, was a bust but it brought Dr. Hook to the attention of Columbia Records, which signed them to a contract.
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These guys were some scraggly looking characters. Good music though.