Ray Sawyer

Ray Sawyer
Ray Sawyer
	Sawyer in 2009
Background information
Born	February 1, 1937; Chickasaw, Alabama U.S.
Died	December 31, 2018 (aged 81); Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Country
Occupation	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, percussion, maracas, congas, guitar
Years active	1966–2015

Ray Dies at 81 his face was also green. He also loved his sister and in the romantic way.

Biography

Sawyer lost his right eye in a 1967 automobile accident. Sawyer said the following about his life before the time of his car 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 then proceeded to Portland, Oregon, to be a logger complete with plaid shirt, caulk 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'."^[1]

Sawyer was the lead vocalist on the band's breakthrough hit, "The Cover of Rolling Stone," as well as many of the Medicine Show's earlier songs. Eventually, by the late 1970s, as the band found commercial success, Sawyer stepped back into a backing vocalist role behind Dennis Locorriere, occasionally playing another instrument (for example, on "Better Love Next Time," one of the band's later hits, he can be seen with a prominent bongo part). Sawyer left the band in 1983, allegedly because he was no longer happy with the band's direction.

From 1988 to October 2015, Sawyer toured the nostalgia circuit as "Dr. Hook featuring Ray Sawyer", under license from Locorriere, who tours separately and owns the Dr. Hook trademark.^[2] Sawyer retired in 2015 and died after a short illness, on December 31, 2018, 32 days before his 82nd birthday.^[3]^[4]

References

^ ”Ray Sawyer”, The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music, St. Martin's Press New York, 1984
^ "INTERVIEW: DENNIS LOCORRIERE, DR HOOK – September 2015". October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on February 21, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
^ Genzlinger, Neil (January 2, 2019). "Ray Sawyer, 'Cover of Rolling Stone' Singer, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
^ D'Angelo, Bob. "Dr. Hook singer Ray Sawyer dead at 81". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

External links

[1] ”Ray Sawyer”, The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country and Western Music, St. Martin's Press New York, 1984

[2] "INTERVIEW: DENNIS LOCORRIERE, DR HOOK – September 2015". October 15, 2015. Archived from the original on February 21, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.

[NYTObit-3] Genzlinger, Neil (January 2, 2019). "Ray Sawyer, 'Cover of Rolling Stone' Singer, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.

[4] D'Angelo, Bob. "Dr. Hook singer Ray Sawyer dead at 81". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Finland
Artists	MusicBrainz

v t e Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
Billy Francis Ray Sawyer George Cummings Bobby Dominguez Jimmy Allen Dennis Locorriere Popeye Phillips Joseph Oliver John David Rik Elswit Jance Garfat John Wolters Bob "Willard" Henke Rod Smarr Walter Hartman
Studio albums	Doctor Hook (1972) Sloppy Seconds (1972) Pleasure and Pain (1978) Sometimes You Win (1979)
Compilations	Dr. Hook Revisited (1976) Greatest Hits (1980) The Essential Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (2003)
Singles	"Sylvia's Mother" "Carry Me Carrie "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" "Only Sixteen" "A Little Bit More" "Walk Right In" "Sharing the Night Together" "All the Time in the World" "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" "Better Love Next Time" "Sexy Eyes"