Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show

Dr. Hook, 1977

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1968–1974), later only Dr. Hook (1975–1985), was an American pop - country rock band formed in Union City , New Jersey , in 1968 .

history

The original cast consisted of Ray Sawyer and Dennis Locorriere . Bill Francis, John David and George Cummings were also part of the band, but they were not permanent band members, but only appeared at individual songs and concerts.

Other band members in the later years were Jance Garfat, Rik Elswit and Jay David. Sawyer was very noticeable for his cowboy hat and eye patch, which he had been wearing since a car accident in 1967. Both became his trademark. The originally planned name of the band was therefore also Captain Hook and the Medicine Show .

The singer-songwriter Shel Silverstein , who wrote around 60 songs for his house band, Dr. Hook wrote covers of 'Rollin' Stone ' , Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball , The Ballad of Lucy Jordan and Sylvia's Mother , among others . However, his publicity-shy nature made him lag behind the others in terms of popularity.

In 1972 Shel Silverstein and Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show in the movie Who is Harry Kellerman? as Capt. Love and band Dustin Hoffman guest appearance as Georgie Soloway at Fillmore East .

1983 Ray Sawyer resigned from the band, which split up two years later. Until his death in 2018 he performed again in the USA and Scandinavia as Dr. Hook featuring Ray Sawyer on.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1972	Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show	-	US45 (23 weeks) US
1973	Sloppy seconds	-	US41 (31 weeks) US
	Belly Up!	-	US141 (6 weeks) US
1976	Bankrupt	-	US141 (16 weeks) US
	A little bit more	UK5 gold (41 weeks)UK	US62 (31 weeks) US
1977	Making Love and Music	UK39 (4 weeks) UK	-
1979	Pleasure & Pain	UK47 (6 weeks) UK	US66 gold (34 weeks)US
	Sometimes you win	UK14th gold (44 weeks)UK	US71 (32 weeks) US
1980	Rising	UK44 silver (4 weeks)UK	US175 (8 weeks) US
1981	Live in the UK	UK90 (1 week) UK	-
1982	Players in the Dark	-	US118 (7 weeks) US

More albums

• 1983: Let Me Drink from Your Well (Mercury)
• 2007: Greatest Hooks

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		UK	US
1980	Dr. Hook / Greatest Hits	UK2 platinum (29 weeks)UK	US142 (12 weeks) US	Chart entry in the USA: 1981
1992	Completely Hooked - The Best Of	UK3 platinum (22 weeks)UK	-
1999	Love songs	UK8th gold (8 weeks)UK	-
2007	Hits and History	UK14th gold (9 weeks)UK	-
2014	Timeless	UK9 silver (8 weeks)UK	-	2 CDs

More compilations

• 1976: Revisited - The Best of Dr. Hook (And the Medicine Show)
• 1978: Remedies
• 1984: The (B) / Rest of Dr. Hook
• 1984: Sharing the Night Together
• 1985: Better Love Next Time
• 1985: Dr. Hook at the Country Store Music Co. Inc
• 1985: The Very Best Of
• 1988: Volume 2; The Country Store Collection
• 1988: Love Songs - 16 Original Greats
• 1989: Sharing the Night Together and Other Favorites by Dr. Hook
• 1995: A Little Bit More (feat. Ray Sawyer )
• 1996: Sharing the Night Together - The Best of Dr. Hook (UK:gold)
• 1996: The Best of Dr. Hook
• 1996: The Very Best Of (feat. Ray Sawyer )
• 1996: 20 Great Love Songs (UK:silver)
• 1998: Our Danish Collection (2 CDs)
• 1999: The Singles
• 1999: Simply the Best (2 CDs)
• 1999: Our Norwegian Collection (2 CDs)
• 2000: The Very Best Of (Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) (UK:silver)
• 2000: Greatest Hits (and More) (UK:silver)
• 2002: Classic Masters Dr. Hook
• 2004: Collections
• 2011: Essential (UK:silver)

Singles

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1972	Sylvia's mother	DE9 (23 weeks) DE	-	CH3 (13 weeks) CH	UK2 (13 weeks) UK	US5 gold (15 weeks)US
	Carry me, Carrie	DE29 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US71 (6 weeks) US
	The Cover of Rolling Stone	-	-	-	-	US6th gold (20 weeks)US
1973	Roland the Roadie and Gertrude the Groupie	-	-	-	-	US83 (4 weeks) US
	Life ain't easy	-	-	-	-	US68 (7 weeks) US
1975	The Millionaire	-	-	-	-	US95 (5 weeks) US

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

• 1973: Acapulco Goldie
• 1973: If I'd Only Come and Gone
• 1974: The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
• 1978: Queen of the Silver Dollar

Dr. Hook

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1976	Only sixteen	-	-	-	-	US6th gold (22 weeks)US
	A little bit more	DE42 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK2 gold (18 weeks)UK	US11 (23 weeks) US
	If not you	-	-	-	UK5 (10 weeks) UK	US55 (11 weeks) US
	(One More Year Of) Daddy's Little Girl	-	-	-	-	US81 (3 weeks) US
1977	Walk Right In	-	-	-	-	US46 (10 weeks) US
1978	More Like the Movies	-	-	-	UK14 (10 weeks) UK	-
	Sharing the night together	-	-	-	UK43 (4 weeks) UK	US6th gold (22 weeks)US
1979	All the time in the world	-	-	-	-	US54 (7 weeks) US
	When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman	DE8 (28 weeks) DE	AT14 (8 weeks) AT	-	UK1 silver (21 weeks)UK	US6th gold (25 weeks)US
	Better Love Next Time	DE33 (16 weeks) DE	-	-	UK8 (8 weeks) UK	US12 (19 weeks) US
1980	Sexy eyes	DE2 (25 weeks) DE	AT11 (14 weeks) AT	CH6 (9 weeks) CH	UK4 (9 weeks) UK	US5 gold (21 weeks)US
	Years from Now	-	-	-	UK47 (6 weeks) UK	US51 (9 weeks) US
	In Over My Head	DE44 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-
	Girls Can Get It	DE44 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	UK40 (5 weeks) UK	US34 (14 weeks) US
1981	That Didn't Hurt Too Bad	-	-	-	-	US69 (4 weeks) US
1982	Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk	DE64 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US25 (12 weeks) US
	Loveline	-	-	-	-	US60 (10 weeks) US

More singles

• 1975: Everybody's Making It Big but Me
• 1975: Cooky and Lila
• 1975: Who Dat
• 1975: The Stimu Dr. Hook (promo)
• 1977: Sleeping Late
• 1978: I Don't Want to Be Alone Tonight
• 1978: Clyde
• 1978: Storms Never Last
• 1979: No quiero estar solo esta noche (Spanish version of I Don't Want to Be Alone Tonight )
• 1979: What Do You Want?
• 1980: Body Talking
• 1980: SOS for Love
• 1981: Hearts Like Yours and Mine
• 1982: Rings
• 1983: I'll Put Angels Around You

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Canada 1977: for the album A Little Bit More 1978: for the album Revisited - The Best of Dr. Hook (And the Medicine Show) 1979: for the single Sharing the Night Together 1979: for the single When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman  Norway 1999: for the album Our Norwegian Collection

Platinum record  Canada 1979: for the album Pleasure & Pain 1980: for the album Sometimes You Win

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC)	-	4 × gold4th	2 × platinum2	550,000	musiccanada.com
Norway (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	20,000	ifpi.no ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
United States (RIAA)	-	7 × gold7th	-	6,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	7 × silver7th	6 × gold6th	2 × platinum2	2,210,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	7 × silver7th	18 × gold18th	4 × platinum4th

swell

1. ↑ Georgie Soloways guest appearance with Capt. Loves Band on YouTube
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK Billboard 200
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Billboard album by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} UK gold / platinum database

Web links

• Dr. Hook at Allmusic (English)
• Dr. Hook at Discogs (English)