Ray Sawyer dies

Today brought the news that Ray Sawyer from Dr Hook has died. Although he wasn't the lead singer of the band he was perhaps the most recognised with his eye patch and hat. Some people thought he was Dr Hook not realising it was a band and not a person.

As a teenager my music taste was strictly Dance Music until one day I opened myself up to different types of music and the first album I acquired after this was Dr Hook, the "Completely Hooked" album which is one of their best of compilations.

I first came across Dr Hook when my mum bought a 70s compilation tape and would play it in the house a lot at the time. The song that I liked the best on the tape was "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman". Once the tape stopped being played so much I more or less forgot about it.

Then one day some years later a couple of people I knew were having a conversation about their favourite Dr Hook song. I remembered how I liked "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" and when I got home I dug out the old tape and gave it a listen. It was still the only Dr Hook song I knew, but one of these people gave me a copy of "Completely Hooked".

The best way to describe it overall was music with a sense of humour. There was "Sylvia's Mother" about what sounded like an expensive telephone conversation, "Cover of the Rolling Stone" about  not being able to get on the cover of that magazine, "Everybody's Making It Big But Me" which questioned why other musicians are having success and they aren't even though they're not that different.

They were just the opening three tracks, but my personal favourite which is the video I've posted is "Sleeping Late". As a teenager who didn't want to get up before lunchtime, a song about how great it is to sleep late was right up my street.

Dr Hook went through a number of line-up changes, the only members in the band throughout the 70s were Ray, Dennis Locorriere and Billy Francis who died in 2010. They called it a day in the early 80s but both Ray and Dennis have since toured with their own versions of the band.

Dennis Locorriere posted on his website his answer to a question he gets asked all the time which was whether there would be a Dr Hook reunion. He made the point that the line up didn't remain the same throughout and some members have since passed away so if their was a reunion it would include people who had never played together before so wouldn't really be a reunion.

I suspect what many people meant by a Dr Hook reunion though was having both Ray and Dennis back on the stage together again. Sadly that's not going to happen now.

RIP Ray Sawyer.