DR. HOOK: Cover to Cover

Julie Felix (June 14, 1938 – March 22, 2020), an American-born, British-based folk/folk rock recording artist, played a key role in bringing folk music into the mainstream in the 1960s with her striking looks, early covers of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen songs and high-profile appearances. She even had her own television series. At one point she was tagged as “Britain’s leading lady of folk” and “the UK’s Joan Baez” even though she came from California and had a Mexican/Native American background. She recorded 22 albums.

Her fourth album, CHANGES (1966), marked her inaugural move to Fontana Records, ultimately paying off as it hit the Top 30. It is regarded as one of her best, mixing traditional and contemporary material. It includes Shel Silverstein's song “I Can't Touch the Sun”, which was also put out as a single.

Felix was still performing into her 80s at venues across the country. Prior to her death in early 2020, she had celebrated her 80th birthday with a new album, Rock Me Goddess, in 2018.

Here's Julie's folk version of “I Can't Touch the Sun”:

https://youtu.be/cLCIMYrmBCk

Dennis Locorriere was one of the two lead singers, (Ray Sawyer being the other), of the band, Dr. Hook. The band had ten years of regular chart hits in the United States, where their music was played on top-40, easy listening, and country music outlets, and throughout the English-speaking world including the UK, Canada and South Africa. Their music spanned several genres, mostly novelty songs and acoustic ballads in their early years, though their greatest success came with their later material, mostly consisting of disco-influenced soft rock.

Dr. Hook recorded Silverstein's "I Can't Touch the Sun" on their Sloppy Seconds album (1972). The album was listed in the Billboard 200 in 1973.

(Photo: Ray and Dennis)

Here's Dennis on lead:

https://youtu.be/MZOWTy-bgJk

(The information used in this post is from Wikipedia and The Guardian.com.)

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