Dorothy Sloop

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Dorothy Sloop, also known as Dorothy Sloop Heflick, was a jazz musician who was born on September 26, 1913 in Steubenville, Ohio. She died in July of 1998 in Pass Christian, Mississippi at the age of 84. She went by the nickname "Sloopy".^[1] During her performing years, she was best known as a pianist with a number of all (or mostly) female jazz bands in the New Orleans, Louisiana vicinity, primarily from the 1930s through the 1950s. She recorded an album entitled Dixie and Sloopy in 1957 with Yvonne "Dixie" Fasnacht, a jazz vocalist and clarinetist who operated a bar called Dixie's Bar of Music on Bourbon Street.^[2] Later, she retired to Florida and became a teacher.

Her name is now commonly associated with the song "Hang on Sloopy", performed by The McCoys and other artists during the 1960s, as it is alleged that Dorothy was the inspiration for the song. This song is now the official rock song of the U.S. state of Ohio, and it is performed often by the marching band of the Ohio State University.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Boomer Magazine - How well do you know 'Sloopy'?
2. ^ Ms. Magazine | Rocking the Cradle of Jazz: Women who changed the face of music