Dennis Locorriere, best known as the lead singer and guitarist for Dr. Hook, died Saturday at the age of 76.<\/p>\n
The rocker\u2019s death was announced via a statement on the band\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dennis Locorriere, who, after a long and courageous battle with kidney disease, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loved ones on May 16, 2026,\u201d it read. \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<\/p>\n Dennis Locorriere’s Rock History<\/p>\n Locorriere was born in New Jersey on June 13, 1949. In 1968, he was recruited by George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis \u2013 who had worked together in a previous band \u2013 to form a new group. They eventually landed on the name Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, later shortened just to Dr. Hook.<\/p>\n In 1970, an appearance in the Dustin Hoffman film Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?\u00a0helped the band land their first record contract.<\/p>\n With a distinctive country pop-rock sound, Dr. Hook enjoyed great success throughout the \u201870s. Hits like \u201cSylvia\u2019s Mother,\u201d \u201cThe Cover of Rolling Stone,\u201d \u201cOnly Sixteen,\u201d \u201cSharing the Night Together\u201d and \u201cWhen You\u2019re in Love with a Beautiful Woman\u201d earned them a national following. Their final Top 10 hit, \u201cSexy Eyes,\u201d was released in 1980.<\/p>\n Watch Dr. Hook Perform ‘Sexy Eyes’<\/p>\n \u201cWe started, we were a bar band. We were playing whatever it took to keep us from being killed,\u201d Locorriere recalled of Dr. Hook’s history during a 2015 interview with 100% Rock Magazine<\/a>. \u201c I mean \u2013 country music, anything. They\u2019d come up and say, \u2018do you know how to play\u2026 [such and such]?\u2019 and we\u2019d say, \u2018yes we do.\u2019 That\u2019s what you did. Then we went out on the road, we had some success, we were support for a lot of different bands like Alice Cooper, and Kiss, and Sly & the Family Stone, and Blues Festivals, and Frank Zappa, and the Eagles. We had to fit everywhere and we did. We were that kind of band.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Hook embarked on a farewell tour in 1985, and Locorriere later enjoyed a solo career. He also retained the rights to the band\u2019s name and regularly toured under the Dr. Hook moniker. In total, Locorriere released 14 studio albums \u2013 11 with Dr. Hook and three solo.<\/p>\n Several of the songs Locorriere wrote or co-wrote were also recorded by other notable artists, including Bob Dylan<\/a>, Willie Nelson<\/a>, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis<\/a> and Olivia Newton John<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Memoriam: 2026 Deaths<\/p>\n A look at those we’ve lost in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dennis Locorriere, best known as the lead singer and guitarist for Dr. Hook, died Saturday at the age…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46,43,21063],"class_list":["post-446929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-r-i-p"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}