Ron Haffkine, a Grammy-winning record producer and manager known for his work with Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, has died. He was 84.
Haffkine died Sunday at his home in Mexico after a brief bout with leukemia and kidney failure, his friend of 50 years, music executive Joel Diamond, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Ron always had an uncanny knack of hearing a hit song in its rawest stage and the rare talent to couple it with the best musicians and then top it off with a meticulous performance by the artist,” Diamond noted.
Haffkine was instrumental in getting Dr. Hook signed by Clive Davis at Columbia Records in the 1970s, and the band led by Dennis Locorriere, George Cummings, the eyepatch-wearing Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis would compile a string of hits that included “Sylvia’s Mother,” “Cover of the Rolling Stone,” “Sharing the Night Together,” “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman,...
Haffkine died Sunday at his home in Mexico after a brief bout with leukemia and kidney failure, his friend of 50 years, music executive Joel Diamond, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Ron always had an uncanny knack of hearing a hit song in its rawest stage and the rare talent to couple it with the best musicians and then top it off with a meticulous performance by the artist,” Diamond noted.
Haffkine was instrumental in getting Dr. Hook signed by Clive Davis at Columbia Records in the 1970s, and the band led by Dennis Locorriere, George Cummings, the eyepatch-wearing Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis would compile a string of hits that included “Sylvia’s Mother,” “Cover of the Rolling Stone,” “Sharing the Night Together,” “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fifty years ago this week — on March 29, 1973, to be exact — the ragged New Jersey country-rock band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show got their wish: Rolling Stone put them on the cover.
Written by Shel Silverstein, the former Playboy cartoonist and children’s book author, Dr. Hook’s hit “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’” featured eyepatch-wearing singer Ray Sawyer on lead vocals, singing lines about buying “five copies for my mother” of the magazine. The band’s actual cover appearance was a colorful caricature of Sawyer and two of his six bandmates,...
Written by Shel Silverstein, the former Playboy cartoonist and children’s book author, Dr. Hook’s hit “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone’” featured eyepatch-wearing singer Ray Sawyer on lead vocals, singing lines about buying “five copies for my mother” of the magazine. The band’s actual cover appearance was a colorful caricature of Sawyer and two of his six bandmates,...
- 3/30/2023
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
Ray Sawyer, the Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show member who sang the 1973 Shel Silverstein-penned hit “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone,'” has died at the age of 81.
Page Six first reported Friday that Sawyer died in Daytona Beach, Florida following a brief illness; a representative for the band confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone.
The Alabama-born Sawyer – who founded the group with Dennis Locorriere, Billy Francis and George Cummings – was a member of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show from 1969 to 1981. A few years before the band’s formation,...
Page Six first reported Friday that Sawyer died in Daytona Beach, Florida following a brief illness; a representative for the band confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone.
The Alabama-born Sawyer – who founded the group with Dennis Locorriere, Billy Francis and George Cummings – was a member of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show from 1969 to 1981. A few years before the band’s formation,...
- 1/1/2019
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
June 10: Singer Shirley Alston Reeves of The Shirelles is 71. Actor Andrew Stevens is 57. Bassist Kim Deal of The Pixies and The Breeders is 51. Singer Maxi Priest is 51. Actress Gina Gershon is 50. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 49. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan) is 48. Actress Kate Flannery ("The Office") is 48. Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 47. Guitarist Joey Santiago of The Pixies is 47. Guitarist Emma Anderson (Lush) is 45. Country guitarist Brian Hofeldt of The Derailers is 45. Singer Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing) is 42. Singer JoJo of K-Ci and JoJo is 41. Singer Faith Evans is 39. Singer Lemisha Grinstead of 702 is 34. Actor DJ Qualls ("Hustle & Flow") is 34. Actor Shane West ("ER," "Now and Again") is 34. Singer Hoku is 31. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 30.
June 11: Actor Gene Wilder is 79. Actor Chad Everett is 75. Comedian Johnny Brown ("Laugh-In") is 75. Singer Joey Dee is 72. Actress Adrienne Barbeau ("Maude") is 67. Drummer Frank Beard of Zz Top is 63. Singer Donnie Van...
June 11: Actor Gene Wilder is 79. Actor Chad Everett is 75. Comedian Johnny Brown ("Laugh-In") is 75. Singer Joey Dee is 72. Actress Adrienne Barbeau ("Maude") is 67. Drummer Frank Beard of Zz Top is 63. Singer Donnie Van...
- 6/7/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Dawn Fallik Lyrics from “Glory Days” on display at the Bruce Springsteen exhibit “From Asbury Park to the Promised Land” at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
At the new Bruce Springsteen exhibit in Philadelphia, most fans will want to stop by the room of guitars, lingering at the instrument that was pictured on his “Born to Run” album cover with its 1952 Fender Esquire neck and 1954 Fender Telecaster body.
Others will stop at the motorcycle jacket, tattered and road-weary and oddly...
At the new Bruce Springsteen exhibit in Philadelphia, most fans will want to stop by the room of guitars, lingering at the instrument that was pictured on his “Born to Run” album cover with its 1952 Fender Esquire neck and 1954 Fender Telecaster body.
Others will stop at the motorcycle jacket, tattered and road-weary and oddly...
- 2/15/2012
- by Dawn Fallik
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Ryan Gosling is many things: Oscar-nominated actor, former Mouseketeer, snappy dresser ... but now the truth about his heroism has been revealed.
When an altercation on a NYC street erupted into fisticuffs, a vision in a blue visor and striped tank top swooped in to help diffuse the situation. Thankfully a woman named Valerie Herrera managed to film the courageous interloper, and rumors began to swirl that it was Hollywood hunk Gosling, a rumor that's now been confirmed.
According to Herrera, Gosling took the two fighting men to the corner and asked them what happened. When Gosling learned that one man was being accused of stealing the other's painting, he asked the vendor how he could make things right. "He dug into his wallet and took out a $20, gave it to the guy," she explained. Gosling asked the vendor, "Does this settle his debt now?" The vendor agreed and Herrera says...
When an altercation on a NYC street erupted into fisticuffs, a vision in a blue visor and striped tank top swooped in to help diffuse the situation. Thankfully a woman named Valerie Herrera managed to film the courageous interloper, and rumors began to swirl that it was Hollywood hunk Gosling, a rumor that's now been confirmed.
According to Herrera, Gosling took the two fighting men to the corner and asked them what happened. When Gosling learned that one man was being accused of stealing the other's painting, he asked the vendor how he could make things right. "He dug into his wallet and took out a $20, gave it to the guy," she explained. Gosling asked the vendor, "Does this settle his debt now?" The vendor agreed and Herrera says...
- 8/25/2011
- by snicks
- The Backlot
Hanna-Barbera ruled Saturday morning television in the 1960s, cannily finding trends and adapting them to their pint-sized audience. Working in tandem with CBS Saturday morning chief Fred Silverman, they spotted a fad and capitalized on it. As the lids were galvanized by the super-hero trend which led to ABC’s surprise smash success with Batman in January 1966, it is little surprise that the fall 1966 cartoon season was festooned with colorful heroic figures. Among the dozen new series to debut that September there was Filmation’s earliest offerings: The Lone Ranger and The New Adventures of Superman, plus H-b’s Space Ghost and Dino Boy, The Super Six, and, notably, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles. The latter series was split evenly between the two properties, each offering something for its viewers. The former show was about boy genius Buzz Conray (Dick Beals), who constructed the thirty-foot tall robot improbably dubbed Frankenstein Jr.
- 5/9/2011
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Priyanka Chopra’s cousin Pariniti was recently signed by Yash Raj for their upcoming venture ‘Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl’ starring Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma. Being related to a star definitely has a lot of advantages, we must say. But the latest news we hear is that the newbie is taking singing lessons from the world famous Dr. Hook.
The latest buzz is that the famous band is in India to give singing lessons to Pariniti Chopra. Ray Sawyer from the famous band “Dr. Hooks” was in Kolkata last week and is currently in Mumbai. Now Pariniti has got the best banner in the industry to mark her Bollywood debut and.
The latest buzz is that the famous band is in India to give singing lessons to Pariniti Chopra. Ray Sawyer from the famous band “Dr. Hooks” was in Kolkata last week and is currently in Mumbai. Now Pariniti has got the best banner in the industry to mark her Bollywood debut and.
- 2/23/2011
- by Bollywood
- GoBollywood
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