Larry Hooper

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(Not the Larry Hooper that was murdered by Arthur Shelton)

Larry Hooper (July 22, 1917 – June 10, 1983) was an American musician and vocalist. He was best known to television audiences as part of The Lawrence Welk Show as a featured singer and pianist in Welk's orchestra.

Born in Independence, Missouri, he joined the Welk band in 1948 when they were doing evening performances at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.

His popularity was largely due to his deep bass voice, renditions of "This Old House" and "Asleep In The Deep," and his sense of humor. He also achieved success with songs like "Oh Happy Day," "Ding Dong Daddy" and "Minnie the Mermaid."

Plagued with health problems for years, he left the show on sick leave in 1969 due to a heart condition, which took him four years to recuperate from. He returned for the first show of the 1973-74 season, which drew a huge emotional ovation from the audience and cast. He left the show for the final time in 1980 when his health began to fail once again, and died three years later in 1983.

Recently, Larry Hooper has received new interest because of a brilliantly edited video tape-loop played before Howie Mandel's stand-up shows, of Hooper singing "Oh Happy Day" for 20 minutes.