{"id":432326,"date":"2026-05-17T18:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T18:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432326\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T18:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T18:38:08","slug":"dr-hook-frontman-dennis-locorriere-dies-aged-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432326\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Hook frontman Dennis Locorriere dies aged 76"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dennis Locorriere, the\u00a0frontman\u00a0of 1970s band Dr. Hook<\/a>, has died after\u00a0a long battle\u00a0with kidney disease at the age of 76.<\/p>\n

The news was confirmed in a statement from his management, which said: \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<\/p>\n

\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

Singer and guitarist Locorriere\u00a0rose to fame alongside fellow vocalist Ray Sawyer in the band originally named Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, and the New Jersey act went on to be one of the most commercially successful soft rock bands of the era.<\/p>\n

Blending elements of country rock, blue-eyed soul and pop, they had a string of major hits throughout the \u201870s, including \u2018Sylvia\u2019s Mother\u2019, \u2018The Cover Of Rolling Stone\u2019, \u2018Sharing The Night Together\u2019 and \u2018When You\u2019re In Love With A Beautiful Woman\u2019.<\/p>\n

They formed in 1969, with Locorriere initially joining as a bass player, and their name was inspired by the Captain Hook character in\u00a0Peter Pan, owing to the eye-patch worn by Sawyer, who had lost an eye in a car crash in 1967.<\/p>\n

Working initially alongside the celebrated songwriter Shel Silverstein, their first three albums were released under the Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show name, with Locorriere and Sawyer sharing lead vocal duties. As the decade wore on, they became a more streamlined pop act, scoring hits in 1976 with \u2018A Little Bit More\u2019 and \u2018If Not You\u2019.<\/p>\n

As a songwriter, Locorriere\u2019s songs have also been recorded by\u00a0Bob Dylan<\/a>, BJ Thomas, Olivia Newton-John<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jerry Lee Lewis<\/a>, and while Dr. Hook first split up in 1985, Locorriere retained the rights to the band name and continued to tour under it. Sawyer passed away in 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also recorded three solo albums, most recently 2010\u2019s \u2018Post Cool\u2019, and he toured as a member of Bill Wyman\u2019s Rhythm Kings in the 2000s.<\/p>\n

Locorriere was married three times and had been living with his third wife in Sussex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dennis Locorriere, the\u00a0frontman\u00a0of 1970s band Dr. Hook, has died after\u00a0a long battle\u00a0with kidney disease at the age of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69,1629,38],"class_list":["post-432326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rock","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}