| Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show | |
|---|---|
The band on the cover of Rolling Stone. |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Chocolate Papers |
| Origin | New Jersey, United States |
| Genres | Rock Soft rock Country |
| Years active | 1967–1985 |
| Labels | Columbia Records, Capitol Records, CBS, Casablanca Records |
| Past members | |
| Billy Francis Ray Sawyer George Cummings Popeye Phillips Jimmy "Wolf Cub" Allen Bobby Dimingus Dennis Locorriere Joseph Oliver John "Jay" David Jance Garfat Rik Elswit John Wolters Bob "Willard" Henke Rod Smarr Walter Hartman |
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Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show was an American pop, country and soft rock band, formed around Union City, New Jersey in 1967 as The Chocolate Papers. They enjoyed considerable commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles including "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of the Rolling Stone", "A Little Bit More" and "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman". In addition to their own material, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by the poet Shel Silverstein.
Often later billed simply as Dr. Hook, they had eight years of regular chart hits, in both the U.S. and the UK, and greatest success with their later gentler material.[1]
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The founding core of the band consisted of three friends George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis, who had played up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest, ending up in New Jersey. There they added future lead vocalist, Dennis Locorriere, and when told by a club owner that they needed a name to put on a poster in the window of his establishment, Cummings made a sign: "Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Tonic for the Soul" (prior to this Cummings, Sawyer, and Francis had performed as "The Chocolate Papers"). The name was inspired by the traveling medicine shows of the old West. To this day, Ray Sawyer is mistakenly considered Dr. Hook, because of the eyepatch he wears as the result of an almost fatal car crash in Oregon in 1967.
The band played for a few years in New Jersey, first with drummer Popeye Phillips (who had also been in "The Chocolate Papers"), who went on to be a session drummer on The Flying Burrito Brothers' first album, The Gilded Palace of Sin. Citing musical differences, Popeye returned home to Alabama and was replaced by local drummer Joseph Olivier. When the band began recording their first album, Olivier left in order to spend more time with his family, and was replaced by session player, John "Jay" David, who was asked to join the band full time in 1968.
In 1970, their demo tapes were heard by Ron Haffkine, musical director on the planned Herb Gardner movie, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?. The songs for the film were written by the cartoonist, poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein, who determined that Dr. Hook was the ideal group for the soundtrack. The group recorded two songs for the film: Locorriere sang the lead on both "The Last Morning," the movie's theme song, later re-recorded for their second album, Sloppy Seconds, and "Bunky and Lucille," which the band can be seen performing in the film. The film, released in 1971 by National General Pictures, received mixed critical reviews and did only modestly at the box office, but it helped Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show secure their first recording contract.
Clive Davis, CBS Records head, had a meeting with the group, described in Davis's autobiography. Drummer David used a wastepaper basket to keep the beat, and while Sawyer, Locorriere and Cummings played and sang a few songs, Francis hopped up and danced on the mogul's desk. This meeting secured the band their first record deal. Subsequently the band went on to international success over the next twelve years, with Haffkine as the group's manager, as well as producer of all the Dr. Hook recordings.
Their self-titled 1971 debut album featured lead vocals, guitar, bass and harmonica by Locorriere, guitarist Cummings, singer Sawyer, drummer David, singer/guitarist, and keyboard player Billy Francis. The album included their first hit, "Sylvia's Mother."
Silverstein wrote the songs for many of Dr. Hook's early albums (including their entire second album), such as "Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball", "Sylvia's Mother", "Everybody's Makin' It Big But Me", "Penicillin Penny", "The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan", "Carry Me Carrie", "The Wonderful Soup Stone" and more, some of which were co-written with Locorriere and/or Sawyer.
The Medicine Show's lineup changed a few more times over the years. In 1972, the band added a full-time bassist, Jance Garfat, and another guitarist, Rik Elswit. When David left the group in 1973, he was replaced by John Wolters. The next to depart was founding band member Cummings, who left in 1975 due to personal and musical differences. The band did not initially replace him. When Elswit was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years later, the band added Bob "Willard" Henke (formerly of Goose Creek Symphony). Elswit recovered and returned to the lineup, but they kept Henke on as well for a while. When Henke left in 1980, they added Rod Smarr.
The band's second single, "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" from Sloppy Seconds attracted the attention of those who would appreciate their irreverent attitude and stage show. It also got the band on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine — albeit in caricature rather than photograph. The song poked fun at the idea that a musician had "made it" if they had been pictured on the cover of Rolling Stone.
In the United Kingdom, the BBC Radio network refused to play "The Cover of the Rolling Stone," as it was considered advertising a trademark name, which was against the BBC's policy. According to Dennis Locorriere some BBC DJs overdubbed the words "Cover of the Radio Times" in place of the "Cover of the Rolling Stone" to get around this restriction.[2]
The group's next hit, "A Little Bit More", was taken from the 1976 album of the same name. It was written and originally performed by Bobby Gosh. Other hit singles from Dr. Hook included "Only Sixteen" (originally by Sam Cooke) (U.S. number 6), "Sharing the Night Together" (number 6), "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (number 6) and "Sexy Eyes" (number 5). Save for "A Little Bit More" (number 11), all the singles mentioned above were certified million-sellers. "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" reached number 1 for several weeks in 1979 in the UK.[1] They had another hit single with "Better Love Next Time" (number 12). The band toured constantly but never managed to turn their success with singles into album sales.
Sawyer left in 1983 to pursue a solo career, while the band continued to tour successfully for another couple of years, ending with Dr. Hook's One and Only Farewell Tour, with Locorriere as the sole frontman.
In 1988, Sawyer toured as "Ray Sawyer of Dr. Hook", this billing eventually being altered to "Dr. Hook featuring Ray (Eye Patch) Sawyer". In the early 2000s, Billy Francis began joining Sawyer to play some shows.
Locorriere relocated to Nashville and wrote songs for many other artists. In 1989, Locorriere performed a one-man show at Lincoln Center, The Devil and Billy Markham, written by Silverstein. Locorriere has since released two solo studio albums (Out of the Dark in 2000 and One of the Lucky Ones in 2005), a live CD set in 2004 (Live in Liverpool), a concert DVD (Alone with Dennis Locorriere) and has toured in recent years as the Voice of Dr. Hook.
On January 21, 2007, Locorriere appeared onstage along with Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman, Steve Winwood, Joe Walsh, Paul Weller and Yusuf Islam, at the Dear Mr. Fantasy charity concert in remembrance of Traffic's Jim Capaldi, who had died in 2005.
In March 2007, Locorriere (and band) embarked on the Dennis Locorriere Celebrates Dr. Hook Hits and History Tour, to promote the release of the Dr. Hook Hits and History CD/DVD set. A live DVD of the tour was released in July 2007, and appeared in the UK music DVD chart at number 10.
In early 2008, having met Wyman at the Dear Mr Fantasy concert, Locorriere toured as a member of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, followed by a few solo tours, which Locorriere called his 'Alone With..' shows.
On March 15, 2010, Dennis Locorriere's third solo album, Post Cool, was released on Proper Records.
John Christian Wolters, who played drums with the band from 1973 to 1982, died on June 16, 1997, of liver cancer. Robert Jance Garfat, who played bass with the band from 1972 to 1985, died on November 6, 2006, in a motorcycle accident. Billy Francis, who played keyboards for the band, died on May 23, 2010 at Glenwood Healthcare in Seymour, Missouri at the age of 68. Shel Silverstein, who wrote many of the band's songs, died from a heart attack in his Key West home on May 10, 1999 at the age of 68.
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Country | CAN | UK[1] | ||
| 1971 | Doctor Hook and the Medicine Show | 45 | — | 38 | — |
| 1972 | Sloppy Seconds | 41 | — | 16 | — |
| 1973 | Belly Up! | 141 | — | — | — |
| 1975 | Ballad of Lucy Jordan | — | — | — | — |
| Bankrupt | 141 | — | — | — | |
| 1976 | A Little Bit More | 62 | 18 | 69 | 5 |
| 1977 | Makin' Love and Music | — | — | — | 39 |
| 1978 | Pleasure and Pain | 66 | 17 | 93 | 47 |
| 1979 | Sometimes You Win | 71 | — | 59 | 14 |
| 1980 | Rising | 175 | — | — | 44 |
| 1982 | Players in the Dark | 118 | — | — | — |
| 1983 | Let Me Drink From Your Well | — | — | — | — |
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | CAN | UK[1] | ||
| 1976 | Revisited (Best Of Dr. Hook) | — | — | — |
| 1980 | Dr. Hook's Greatest Hits | 142 | 32 | 2 |
| 1981 | Live in the U.K. | — | — | 90 |
| 1984 | The Rest Of Dr. Hook | — | — | — |
| 1987 | Dr. Hook Greatest Hits (And More) | — | — | — |
| 1992 | Completely Hooked - The Best of Dr. Hook | — | — | 3 |
| 1995 | Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show - Greatest Hits | — | — | — |
| 1996 | Sharing The Night Together - The Best Of Dr. Hook | — | — | — |
| 1999 | Love Songs | — | — | 8 |
| 2007 | Hits and History | — | — | 14 |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Country | US AC | CAN | CAN Country | CAN AC | UK[1] | |||
| 1972 | "Sylvia's Mother" | 5 | — | — | 2 | — | — | 2 | Doctor Hook and the Medicine Show |
| "Carry Me, Carrie" | 71 | — | — | 82 | — | — | — | Sloppy Seconds | |
| "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" | 6 | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | ||
| 1973 | "Roland the Roadie and Gertrude the Groupie" | 83 | — | — | 74 | — | — | — | Belly Up! |
| "Life Ain't Easy" | 68 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1975 | "The Millionaire" | 95 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Bankrupt |
| 1976 | "Only Sixteen" | 6 | 55 | 14 | 3 | — | 9 | — | |
| "A Little Bit More" | 11 | — | 15 | 4 | — | 6 | 2 | A Little Bit More | |
| "A Couple More Years" | — | 51 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "If Not You" | 55 | 26 | 21 | 56 | — | 9 | 5 | ||
| 1977 | "Walk Right In" | 46 | 92 | 39 | 77 | — | 30 | — | Makin' Love and Music |
| 1978 | "More Like the Movies" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 14 | A Little Bit More |
| "Sharing the Night Together" | 6 | 50 | 18 | 3 | 40 | 4 | 43 | Pleasure and Pain | |
| 1979 | "All the Time in the World" | 54 | 82 | 41 | 60 | 64 | 12 | — | |
| "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" | 6 | 68 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 7 | 1 | ||
| "Better Love Next Time" | 12 | 91 | 3 | 39 | — | 10 | 8 | Sometimes You Win | |
| 1980 | "Sexy Eyes"A | 5 | — | 6 | 8 | — | 1 | 4 | |
| "Years From Now" | 51 | — | 17 | 63 | — | 3 | 47 | ||
| "Girls Can Get It" | 34 | — | — | — | — | — | 40 | Rising | |
| 1981 | "That Didn't Hurt Too Bad" | 69 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1982 | "Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk"B | 25 | — | — | 17 | — | — | — | Players in the Dark |
| "Loveline" | 60 | — | 19 | — | — | — | — | ||