Lawrence "Bullfrog" Hooper (July 22, 1917 in

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...

– June 10, 1983 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) was an American musician and vocalist. He was best known to television audiences as part of ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1 ...

'' as a featured singer and pianist in Welk's orchestra. Born in

and raised in

Lebanon, Missouri Lebanon is a city in and the county seat of Laclede County in Missouri. The population was 14,474 at the time of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Laclede County. The Lebanon Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Laclede County. Hi ...

, he joined the

Welk WELK (94.7 FM) is a classic hits formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Elkins, West Virginia, serving North Central West Virginia. WELK is owned and operated by West Virginia Radio Corporation WVRC Media is a media corporation compr ...

band in 1948 when they were doing evening performances at the Roosevelt Hotel in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. His popularity was largely due to his

basso profundo Basso profondo (Italian: "deep bass"), sometimes basso profundo, contrabass or oktavist, is the lowest Bass (voice type), bass voice type. While ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' defines a typical bass as having a range that is limited to ...

voice, renditions of "This Old House" and "Asleep In The Deep," and his sense of humor. He also achieved success with songs like "

Oh Happy Day "Oh Happy Day" is a 1967 gospel music arrangement of the 1755 hymn by clergyman Philip Doddridge. Recorded by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, it became an international hit in 1969, reaching No. 4 on the US Singles Chart, No. 1 in France, Germany, an ...

" (Hooper's 1953 recording of the song with the Welk orchestra was a top-5 hit for the orchestra), "Ding Dong Daddy" and "Minnie the Mermaid", a duet sung with Jo Ann Castle. Plagued with health problems for years, he left the show on sick leave in 1969 due to a heart condition, occasionally filling in with the orchestra when one of the other keyboardists got sick and making guest appearances during that time frame. He returned full-time for the first show of the 1973-74 season (the "Tribute to Disney" episode, singing "Oh Happy Day"). It drew a huge emotional standing ovation from the audience and cast although Larry was visibly lip-syncing and was always uncomfortable and short of breath during the performance. Larry had fewer solo and singing roles and was primarily in the band during the last couple of years of his appearances when his health began to fail again. He left the show for the final time in 1980 and three years later, he died of kidney failure. In recent years, Hooper received new interest because of a video tape-loop played before Howie Mandel's stand-up shows of his singing "Oh Happy Day" for 20 minutes.

References

External links

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Lawrence Welk Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Larry 1917 births 1983 deaths People from Independence, Missouri American basses Deaths from kidney failure 20th-century American singers Lawrence Welk 20th-century American male singers