DR HOOK’s Dennis Locorriere - Great Guy Great Music Great Story

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show was an American rock band formed in New Jersey in 1968. They enjoyed huge commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles including "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'", "Only Sixteen" and "A Little Bit More." Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show owes much of their success to poet Shel Silverstein.

The band had 8 years of regular chart hits. Their music spanned several genres, mostly novelty songs and acoustic ballads in the early years but then with their later material that consisted of disco-influenced soft rock. The band was then known as Dr. Hook.

Founded by Southerners, George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis, Dennis Locorriere joined the band as vocalist.

The "Hook" in their name was inspired by Sawyer's eyepatch and a reference to Captain Hook of the Peter Pan fairy tale. Ray Sawyer had lost his right eye in a car crash in 1967, and thereafter always wore an eyepatch.

For a while the group found it difficult to crack the bigtime. Luckily, in 1970 a musical director on an upcoming movie heard their tapes. Cartoonist, poet/songwriter Shel Silverstein decided Dr. Hook was the ideal group for the soundtrack. That movie helped Dr. Hook secure their first recording contract.

Clive Davis signed the band and they went on to international success. Silverstein wrote all the songs for their 1972 debut album.

The single "Sylvia's Mother" flopped on first release, but eventually became the band's first million-seller. Silverstein continued to write songs for Dr. Hook, including their entire second album, Sloppy Seconds.The band's second single, Silverstein’s "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" (1972), was another million-selling disc, poking fun at the idea that a musician had "made it" if they had been pictured on the cover of Rolling Stone.

In the United Kingdom, the BBC Radio network refused to play "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'", because it considered doing so would be advertising a trademark name, which was against the BBC's policy (previously, the Kinks had to change "Coca-Cola" to "Cherry Cola" in their song "Lola" to get around the rule).

Dr. Hook became just as famed for their crazed stage antics, which ranged from surreal banter to impersonating their own opening acts, but it was the group's nonchalance about business matters that led to bankruptcy. The group’s line-up changed a few times over the years.  And in 1975 the band shortened its name to Dr. Hook. They signed with Capitol Records in 1975 and released a reworked version of Sam Cooke's "Only Sixteen" which revitalised their career and charted in the top ten the following year.

When they released a song called "A Little Bit More" soon after, it charted at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and spent two weeks at number nine on the Cash Box Top 100. It also reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and became Dr. Hook's joint second-best UK chart placing, matching "Sylvia's Mother".

Follow-ups to "A Little Bit More" included "Sharing the Night Together", "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman", "Better Love Next Time", and "Sexy Eyes" which featured prominent female backup singers. Each single became a certified million-seller.

Ray Sawyer left the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career, while the band continued to tour successfully for another couple of years, ending with Dr. Hook's One and Only Farewell Tour in 1985, with Locorriere as the sole front man. Dennis retained ownership of the Dr. Hook name and continued to tour and release his own solo albums. Ray Sawyer did not perform publicly after his last tour in 2015. Sawyer died in 2018.

This week Dennis Locorriere is our special guest. During our chat he speaks openly and honestly about his career and his affection for Ray Sawyer as well as his admiration for Shel Silverstein, without whom he’d still be playing the New Jersey club scene.

For more information about Dennis Locorrierre https://www.dennislocorriere.com/