RIP Ray Sawyer

Ray Sawyer has just died after a short illness.  He did a farewell tour a few years ago because his health was declining - and his voice had roughened a good deal.  However he was still a wonderful performer and a real trouper….

Ray was born in Alabama, and always wanted to be a singer and musician.  He went to blues clubs as a kid and in the 1960s, he and a couple of other Southerners put together a band, the Chocolate Papers, which was a sort of precursor of Doctor Hook.   He had a serious road accident which caused him to lose an eye and suffer other injuries.  But he returned to singing and became the “face” of Dr Hook, because the eyepatch made him noticeable.   The name of the band was chosen because of Ray’s resemblance to Captain Hook.

Ray was not the lead singer, but his voice was good, it had a country twang and he had a Southern accent.  He supported Dennis Locorriere… He also sang lead on some songs, particularly their hit “Cover of the Rolling Stone”.

The band had a good deal of success in the 1970s but they ended up bankrupt.  They continued to work and tour.  However their songs changed  from rock and country style rock, and also a lot of novelty songs penned by Shel Silverstein….to a more commercial sound, mainly pop ballads.  These records were best sellers and solved their financial problems...
Dr Hook had always had an image of doing crazy things.  They enjoyed antics  like dressing up as their own support band, and only revealing it at the end of a concert - or dressing as the Bay City Rollers when playing in Britain...   Their surreal banter between songs and on chat shows made them popular.
  Dennis has a melodious and excellent voice which was well suited to love songs.

Some years later,  in 1983 - Ray decided to leave the band, to embark on a country singing career.   He moved to Nashville...
By then, he was married... He brought out a country LP, called Ray.  He also returned to his boyhood love of the Blues...

Later, he began to tour as Ray Sawyer of Dr Hook, performing some of the band’s big hits.  He was supported by his son Cayce who was a drummer and for a time he worked with Billy Francis, who had been the keyboard player in Hook, and did some amazing and bizarre dancing…

Ray was a fun eccentric performer, often holding a drink or cigarette during his singing…He kept on working until his late 70s, and while his voice had roughened, he was still fun to watch…

Its sad to hear of his death, and I wish I could see him perform again….