Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook in 1975) was an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. They enjoyed considerable commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles including “Sylvia’s Mother“, “The Cover of ’Rolling Stone’“ (both 1972), “Only Sixteen“ (1975), “A Little Bit More“ (1976), “Sharing the Night Together“ (1978), “When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman“ (1979), “Better Love Next Time“ (1979), and “Sexy Eyes“ (1980). In addition to their own material, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by the poet Shel Silverstein. The founding core of the band consisted of George Cummings, Ray Sawyer (from Alabama), and Billy Francis (born William Allen Francis, Jr. in Sacramento, California; January 16, 1942 – May 23, 2010), who had worked together in a band called the Chocolate Papers. They played the southern, eastern, and mid-western United States before breaking up. Cummings, who moved to New Jersey with the plan of forming a new band, brought Sawyer to rejoin him. They then took on future primary vocalist, New Jersey native Dennis Locorriere, initially as a bass player. Francis returned to be the new band’s keyboardist. Cummings named the new band “Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Tonic for the Soul.“ The “Hook“ name was inspired by Sawyer’s eyepatch and a reference to Captain Hook of the Peter Pan fairy tale, although, humorously, Captain Hook was neither a doctor nor wore an eyepatch. Ray Sawyer had lost his right eye in a near-fatal car crash in Oregon in 1967, and thereafter always wore an eyepatch. The eyepatch led some to believe that Sawyer was ’Dr. Hook’. When anyone asked the band which one of them was ’Dr Hook’ they always directed everyone to the bus Ray Sawyer Ray Sawyer (Chickasaw, 1 februari 1937 – Daytona Beach, 31 december 2018) was singer of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. He died on New Year’s Eve, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. We publish this video to commemorate him. RIP Ray. This video was shot on the site of the Amsterdam garbage incineration on 10 December 1979. Watch our great music videos ❯ More TopPop? Subscribe here ❯ More info on Wikipedia ❯ Broadcast date: 10 December 1979 This is to let you know that the video recording of the video clip was originally recorded by AVROTROS Broadcasting. AVROTROS Broadcasting hereby warrants and represents that it is the sole and exclusive owner of the physical film and/or videotape footage in this video clip. The performance of the artist(s) in the clip was filmed and recorded with the written consent of the artist(s) and their representatives. AVROTROS is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster, founded in 2014 from a merger of AVRO and TROS. From January 1st, 2014 the name of the merged broadcaster was used in joint programmes. AVRO was founded in 1923 as the Netherlands first public broadcaster. TROS started broadcasting in 1964. Toppop was a weekly AVRO pop program that was aired between 1970 and 1988. AVROTROS Broadcasting PO Box 2 1200 JA Hilversum The Netherlands TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music TV show in the Dutch language area. Dutch broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 1970 to 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted the show for its first fifteen years. World famous music artists performed on TopPop: ABBA, 10CC, Bee Gees, The Jacksons with Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Earth & Fire, Queen, Golden Earring, Boney M, KC & The Sunshine Band, Chic, Donna Summer and many many more.
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