Ray Sawyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ray Sawyer (born February 1, 1937, Chickasaw, Alabama, United States) is a singer best known as a lead vocalist with the 1970s rock band, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show.
As a youth, he idolized Hank Williams, and at 14 he was playing with a local country band, eventually leading the house band at Al Cottrill's club in Mobile. In 1959 he signed with Sandy Records.
His first hit single was "Rockin' Satellite", released in 1960, followed by "I'm Gonna Leave" (Sandy, 1037). In 1965 he played in The Chocolate Papers with several musicians who later became members of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show.
He lost his right eye in a 1967 automobile accident that left him with his signature eyepatch. He said the following about his life around the time of his accident:
I must have played all the clubs from Houston to Charleston until I decided I was going insane from too much beans and music, and I gave it up. I saw a John Wayne movie and proceeded to Portland, Oregon, to be a logger complete with plaid shirt, Colk boots, and Pike pole. On the way my car slipped on the road and the accident left me with the eye patch I now wear. When I recovered I ran straight back to the beans and music and vowed, Here I'll stay.
– Ray Sawyer, from The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music, St. Martin's Press New York, 1984
In 2007, Sawyer along with Dr. Hook appeared at the Havelock Country Jamboree.
