Larry Groce
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| Larry Groce | |
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 Larry Groce |
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| Origin | Dallas, Texas |
| Years active | 1976—1980 |
| Genres | Country, Folk |
| Labels | Warner Bros. Records |
Larry Groce (born April 22, 1948) is a family-oriented, one-hit wonder country music singer/songwriter and radio host. He had a U.S. Top Ten hit with "Junk Food Junkie" in 1976. Since 1986, Groce has hosted the Public Radio International program, Mountain Stage.
Groce was born in Dallas, Texas on April 22, 1948. He attended W.H. Adamson High School with future musicians Michael Murphy, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and B.W. Stevenson. After school, Groce moved around the States — St. Louis, New York, Los Angeles — singing folk music and rhyming tales. Groce recorded four LPs on small labels like Peaceable and Daybreak in the '70s, with his band--Berke McKelvey (bass), and the Currence brothers, Jimmie (banjo, fiddle) and Loren (guitar, fiddle, mandolin); Walt Disney's Vista label Activity Records issued his "Winnie the Pooh For President" as a single.
Early in the 1970s, Groce went to work for the National Endowment for the Arts program which funded appearances by artists in public schools. Groce was sent to West Virginia where working with kids inspired him to write the humorous "Junk Food Junkie". The song was recorded in front of a live audience at McCabe's in Santa Monica, California, and quickly became a big hit peaking at number nine in the United States.
The song was followed up by an album and several more novelty numbers. None of them charted, and Groce returned to his work with kids. He currently lives in Philippi, West Virginia.
