Dr. Hook’s Final Original Member Dennis Locorriere Has Died
The longest living, and longest serving original member of the country rock band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (later known simply as Dr. Hook) has died. Dennis Locorriere joined the band as the bass player and became the group’s lead singer. He passed away on May 16th from complications from kidney disease, marking an end of an era as the band’s last surviving founding member. He was 76 years old.
Fellow founding members George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis first started playing together in Mobile, Alabama under the name the Chocolate Papers with Ray Sawyer as the band’s lead vocalist. But when they started a new band up in Union City, New Jersey in 1968 with Dennis on bass, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show was born, officially coining the name in 1969. Dennis Locorriere was a native of Union City, born there on June 13, 1949.
The wild, rambunctious country rock band also known for its heartfelt ballads became synonymous with signature songs “Sylvia’s Mother” in 1972, and 1973’s “The Cover of Rolling Stone,” both of which were written by country songwriter Shel Silverstein, whose songs were a significant part of the band. It was Dr. Hook’s success that helped support Shel’s songwriting pursuits for many years. Every song on the band’s biggest album Sloppy Seconds (1972) was written by Shel.
As guitarist Ray Sawyer stepped away from lead vocal duties and Dennis Locorriere adopted it more as his primary role, the band achieved some of its greatest success. Other top songs included “A Little Bit More” (1976), “Walk Right In” (1977), and “Sharing The Night Together” (1978).
Who exactly was the “Dr Hook” of the band was always up for debate. Though many in the public believed it to be Ray Sawyer since he wore an eye patch after losing his right eye in a car accident in 1967, the band loved to be ambiguous about the answer, often saying it was their bus driver. But after George Cummings left the band in the mid 70’s, and Ray Sawyer in 1983, Dennis Locorriere kept on with the band and trademarked “Dr. Hook,” touring under the name.
Though Locorriere kept the band going well into the ’80s, their last studio albums was in 1983. Along with writing songs for Dr. Hook, Dennis Locorriere also landed songwriting credits with a host of country artists over the years, including Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, BJ Thomas, along with Bob Dylan.
The collaborations with Shel Silverstein also continued over the years, including Locorriere performing in Shel’s play The Devil And Billy Markham in New York City in the late ’80s, and narrating Shel Silverstein’s book Runny Babbit in 2005.
Locorriere also released a succession of solo albums in the oughts, Out of the Dark (2000), One of the Lucky Ones (2005) and Post Cool (2010). There were also numerous live albums through this era when he would continue to perform Dr. Hook songs along with his solo material. For the last 24 years of his life, Locorriere lived in West Sussex, England with his third wife where he passed away on Saturday.
“Dennis faced his illness with remarkable strength, dignity, and resilience throughout, and remained deeply cherished by all who knew him,” said a statement on the Dr. Hook website. “He will be remembered for his warmth, love, and the lasting impact he had on those around him,” the statement read. “We would like to thank everyone who supported Dennis during his journey and ask for privacy for his loved ones as they grieve this profound loss.”
The statement was chased with a Looney Tunes-esque “That’s all folks,” marking the end of one of American music’s most colorful and character-filled bands.
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May 19, 2026 @ 6:26 pm
RIP. I picked up a used vinyl copy of Sloppy Seconds years ago on a whim, for probably $1 or less and it turned out to be one of the best purchases I ever made.
May 19, 2026 @ 6:49 pm
RIP to a genuinely quirky band. Buck Owens did a cover of “On the Cover of the Rolling Stone” retitled “On the cover of the Music City News”. Bobby Bare also covered “Sylvia’s Mother”. A song from the 1976 album A Little Bit More called “A couple more years” was covered by the Statler Brothers. The band itself would have a top 30 country hit from the Same Album with the song “If Not You”.
May 20, 2026 @ 5:17 am
“A Couple More Years” was released as the B side of Dr. Hook’s 1976 pop hit single “A Little Bit More.” Promoted to country radio that song only climbed to #51.
Waylon Jennings also recorded “A Couple More Years.” It was a track on his 1976 album Are You Ready For The Country. Waylon’s version was released about 6 months prior to the Statlers recording. The Statler’s version was included on their album The Country America Loves released in early 1977.
Dr. Hook singles received some country airplay but they never achieved a significant country hit. They charted 10 singles including two by Ray Sawyer. Country radio wasn’t quite ready for them in the late 70’s. A very creative group they even incorporated the disco/dance style into some of their late 70’s repertoire.
May 19, 2026 @ 8:04 pm
Sharing the Night Together is one of the best country songs ever.
May 20, 2026 @ 3:21 am
RIP….hiden gem is Waylon singing background vocals on “What About You” by Dr. Hook.
May 20, 2026 @ 5:23 am
Im gonna have to question the assertion that Dr Hook and The Medicine Show was a “Country” band or ” Country Rock Band”. I grew up with Hook on the radio, pop radio to be exact. I also grew up with AM and FM Country radio and I can assure you that Dr Hook was NEVER played on Country radio or recognized by the CMA or ACM, or the Opry or The Hall of Fame. They were essentially hippie stoner light-FM rock with a tinge of disco in the later years. In fact, the stations who played the harder rock avoided Dr Hook entirely. They were misfits all around, not cool enough to be in the Deadhead circle, not rockin’ enough for the Zeppelin, Deep Purple, AC/DC crowd and certainly never in the Country music arena. They were a weird anomaly but ultimately found a home in the Light-FM easy breezy Mom Rock radio world. ” Sexy Eyes” anyone? HA HA.
May 20, 2026 @ 7:12 am
I don’t think anyone would consider Dr. Hook a “country” band, but I’m surprised anyone would say they don’t have country elements to their sound, or that they weren’t a “country rock” band, at least in certain eras. If you go to Wikipedia, their first two genres mentioned for them are “country rock” and “roots rock.” Officially on the charts, they had two Top 20 country albums in “A Little Bit More (#18, 1976), and “Pleasure and Pain (#17, 1978). They also had a #26 single in country with “If Not You.” Specific to Dennis, he wrote country songs for country artists. He also sang on Waylon Jennings and Randy Travis albums. Robert’s Western World posted a remembrance of him when he passed. That’s where I saw the news.
May 20, 2026 @ 8:06 am
“A Little Bit More” would definitely have been a country hit in the hands of an established artist and producer. His other songs with Dr. Hook, not so much. I don’t get Wikipedia’s classification of him as “roots rock,” but Wikipedia is wrong almost as much as it’s right when it comes to such things. I always take anything I see in it with a huge grain of salt. When everybody and his sister and his crazy uncle can be a writer and editor, the resulting product can only be anything but reliable.
May 20, 2026 @ 8:37 am
My source for calling Dr. Hook “country rock” is not Wikipedia. My source for calling them country rock is me, and a general consensus among the listening public. I’ve been listening to them for many years, and always thought of their early and mid career output as a version of country rock in the same vein as Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers. In fact, one of the early drummers for Dr. Hook, Popeye Phillips, played with the Flying Burrito Brothers. The only reason I mentioned Wikipedia is because it’s an outside source of information when my opinion was questioned.
Either way, this is not an obituary of Dr. Hook. This is an obituary on Dennis Locorriere, who wrote country songs, sang country songs, sang on country albums, and was part of the greater country music community. This is my beat. I cover the people who pass away that contributed to country music, however great or small. And I am going to always err on the side of covering someone as opposed to not covering them if they contributed to country music.
May 20, 2026 @ 7:26 am
Sexy Eyes was co-written by Keith Stegall.
May 20, 2026 @ 7:48 am
Oh, I don’t know. At least “Only Sixteen” was as big a record on the country station my folks listened to as the top-40 station I was glued to as a kid. But then, this was in a big-city, Eastern market where reverse crossovers, from Ronstadt and Eagles to Buffett, Jim Croce and even Eric Clapton (during that period when he latched onto that J.J. Cale, Tulsa sound) were an essential tool for a country station that wanted any kind of mass-appeal success.
May 20, 2026 @ 9:50 am
I’m pretty sure I saw them on Nashville Now with Ralph Emery. Just sayin’.
May 20, 2026 @ 9:21 pm
They were definitely just all out rock with a cover of the rolling Stone ’70s rock no mommy stuff none of that BS like novelty
May 20, 2026 @ 7:37 am
I will give you that Dennis did write for Country artists and the apparent anomaly song If Not You. ( I never remember my childhood country stations playing them, though I could be in error) But I’m looking at the overall picture. The monster hits that really made the band wealthy were certainly far from Country. Early Hook is very hippie stoner stuff, later Hook was disco adjacent light FM all the way. When Your In Love With a Beautiful Woman, Sexy Eyes, Sharing The night Together were monster hits for the band that survive today on FM mix stations. Make no mistake they were a very big name in the late 70s and were obviously successful. But I don’t equate early Hook with Eagles, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Pure Prairie League, Poco, Gram Parsons etc. I know, Im being persnickety and obviously a few regulars here way disagree with me and that’s fine. I’ll agree I’m on an island with my take, but that’s how I see it.
May 20, 2026 @ 7:54 am
See it this way; during their hit-making period, very few of the country acts performed country music. From Jim Reeves around 1957 to Keith Whitley in the late 80’s, the majority of “country music” sounded like whatever pop music sounded, from crooning through disco to smooth housewife pop. Even Strait, Travis and Bandy focused on fluffy arangements and sappy lyrics during the mid/late 80’s.
Clint Black changed the trend in 1989, followed by Alan Jackson and a few others. But by 1993, it was all back to pop- and rock-country again.
May 20, 2026 @ 8:55 am
Loved their stuff. Dont really care what you consider em. Just good music. Freakers ball was an awesome song. But i liked a lot of their music. May he and the rest rest in peace. Maybe they are all playing for my sister and brother right now.
May 20, 2026 @ 11:58 am
The bargain bins in the record stores of my youth would not be the same without Dr Hook
May 20, 2026 @ 4:01 pm
Ray Sawyer (who was arguably the main face of Dr. Hook despite Locorriere being the lead singer on most of their hits) made an appearance on One Big Family, which was Nashville’s attempt to do a charity single in the 1980s.
May 21, 2026 @ 10:25 am
Buffet, Prine and Dr. Hook were my Dad’s favorite artists and I got a pretty healthy does of them growing up in the 80s. I’m always so surprised when I’m at a jam and I start singing “Well we’re big rock singers…” and almost nobody knows the song. Their early stuff is very under appreciated, later stuff I don’t care much for. R.I.P.
May 21, 2026 @ 10:56 am
I really enjoyed listening to them, and will continue to listen. Thanks, Dennis. Good job.
May 24, 2026 @ 12:44 pm
I got to interact with Dennis a little in the 2010s and found him to be an extremely nice and humble man. May he rest in peace.
Yes, Dr. Hook leaned more into pop and disco towards the end of their run of hits, but as Trigger says, there was a strong country flavor to their earlier work, as there was with many pop-rock hitmakers of the 70s. I miss that musical world.