{"id":676338,"date":"2026-05-17T22:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/676338\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T22:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:42:19","slug":"dennis-locorriere-dr-hook-singer-and-guitarist-dead-at-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/676338\/","title":{"rendered":"Dennis Locorriere, Dr. Hook Singer and Guitarist, Dead at 76"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDennis Locorriere, founding member of the Seventies country rock band Dr. Hook<\/a> and the Medicine Show, has died at the age of 76. <\/p>\n

\n\tLocorriere died Saturday following a \u201clong and courageous battle with kidney disease,\u201d the \u201cCover of \u2018Rolling Stone’\u201d band said in a statement<\/a> Sunday. Locorriere previously announced in November 2025 that he would retire from touring.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDennis faced his illness with remarkable strength, dignity, and resilience throughout, and remained deeply cherished by all who knew him. He will be remembered for his warmth, love, and the lasting impact he had on those around him,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWe would like to thank everyone who supported Dennis during his journey and ask for privacy for his loved ones as they grieve this profound loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe New Jersey-born Locorriere co-founded Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show in 1969, serving first as the band\u2019s bassist and lead singer. After signing with Columbia, the country rock group linked up with children\u2019s book author Shel Silverstein, who wrote all but one song on the group\u2019s first two albums, 1972\u2019s Doctor Hook and 1973\u2019s Sloppy Seconds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThose LPs featured the Locorriere-sung singles \u201cSylvia\u2019s Mother\u201d and \u201cCarry Me, Carrie,\u201d as well as the band\u2019s biggest hit \u201cThe Cover of \u2018Rolling Stone,’\u201d sung by the band\u2019s Ray Sawyer, who died in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter shortening their band name to simply Dr. Hook in the mid-Seventies, Locorriere and the band scored hits with covers of \u201cA Little Bit More\u201d and \u201cSharing the Night Together,\u201d as well as their own \u201cWhen You\u2019re in Love with a Beautiful Woman,\u201d \u201cSexy Eyes,\u201d and \u201cBetter Love Next Time,\u201d the latter three appearing on the band\u2019s 1979 album Sometimes You Win.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA Couple More Years,\u201d a song Locorriere co-wrote with Silverstein for Dr. Hook\u2019s 1976 album A Little Bit More, would later be covered by both Willie Nelson (for 1978\u2019s Waylon & Willie) and Bob Dylan, whose version<\/a> would appear on The Bootleg Series Vol. 16.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the band\u2019s farewell tour in 1985, Locorriere retained the rights to the group\u2019s moniker and continued touring as Dr. Hook; Sawyer licensed the band name and toured with his own outfit, Dr. Hook with Ray Sawyer. Outside of Dr. Hook, Locorriere also released a series of solo albums over the past few decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dennis Locorriere, founding member of the Seventies country rock band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, has died…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,248530,75,19037,2385,173457],"class_list":["post-676338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dr-hook","tag-entertainment","tag-obit","tag-obituary","tag-rsx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}