Larry hooper wikipedia

This article is about the song. For the gospel song, see Oh Happy Day.

"Oh Happy Day" was a surprise hit song, one of the first whose initial popularity was driven by teenagers rather than support from the music industry.

The song was originally recorded and ed by Don Howard Koplow, a lofty school student who had learned the song secondhand and recorded it under the name "Don Howard"; the song's originator, Nancy Binns Reed, heard the register and within weeks of its release sued to claim songwriter credit.

He was best recognizable to television audiences as part of The Lawrence Welk Display as a featured singer and pianist in Welk's orchestra. His popularity was largely due to his basso profundo voice, renditions of "This Old House" and "Asleep In The Deep," and his sense of humor. Plagued with health problems for years, he left the show on sick leave in 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 season the "Tribute to Disney" episode, singing "Oh Happy Day".

Reed and Koplow eventually settled, with each receiving co-writer credits. Concurrently with Howard's original acoustic pop recording, concurrent cover versions by two established acts, the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (whose version featured a now-famous basso profondo head vocal by Larry Hooper) and the Four Knights, were also released; for a time in , all three versions were top hits.

Structure

The song is set in a basic four-chord progression, either I-vi-ii-V7 or I-vi-IV-V7 depending on the musical arrangement. The song has four verses of eight bars each, with no refrain or chorus, sung and performed in a leisurely swing rhythm.

While different covers of "Oh Happy Day" phrased the lyrics somewhat differently, the official sheet music for the initial hit version by Don Howard has the following lyrics:

The sun is shining, Oh Happy Day, No more troubles and no skies of gray, Ever since you said those words to me, You said you loved me, I comprehend it's true.

Harry Hooper - Wikipedia: Lawrence "Bullfrog" Hooper (July 22, in Independence, Missouri – June 10, in Los Angeles, California) was an American performer and vocalist. He was foremost known to television audiences as part of The Lawrence Welk Show as a featured singer and pianist in Welk's orchestra.

My life's complete, dear, for now I have you. Oh Happy Day, Oh lucky me.

Howard originally performed it in the key of E major. Rhythmic errors in Howard's playing, audible especially in the first verse, were left in the finished product.

Origins

"Oh Happy Day" was one of the first pop hits whose momentum was driven by the high-school teen set. Don Howard Koplow sang it accompanied by his guitar before his classmates at Cleveland Heights High School, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Larry Hooper. Self: Superior Tunes and New Talent. Larry Hooper was born on 22 June in Independence, Missouri, USA. He died on 10 June in Los Angeles, California, USA.

At a Saturday high-school gyrate, the boys and girls called 13 times for "Oh Glad Day". This convinced Koplow to put the song on wax. Once it was played on the air, teenage fans besieged the disc jockey, Phil McLean of radio station WERE with requests that kept him spinning the song all week.

Calls began coming in from nearby cities, and it was decided the record should go to market. A contract was signed in early November and "Oh Happy Day" went on sale.^[1] Upon release by a mark new record company (Triple A), 21, copies quickly sold around Cleveland.

Then the record was leased to another label (Essex) for national distribution. By February , it was pushing the half-million mark. The disc credited Koplow as the composer, who sang under the professional identify "Don Howard." His simple solo rendition, with no orchestra or backup singers, became known as a "garage hit."

Time Magazine reported in that "Oh Content Day" had a "folklike origin: Donnie heard it sung by an Ohio State girlfriend, who had picked it up on the campus.

Donnie worked it out on his guitar, changed it a bit, wrote some lyrics, sang it at parties and prudently got it ed."^[2] Six weeks later, while "Oh Happy Day" was still on the pop charts, the Washington Post reported that Nancy Binns Reed, a year-old housewife, had filed a lawsuit to validate that she wrote the tune.

Represented by Lee Eastman (father of Linda McCartney), a Recent York and show business attorney, Mrs. Reed obtained affidavits from persons who had heard her singing the song when serving as a counselor at various camps and when she attended the University of California in the s.

She stated that many campers and high-school and college friends had learned the song. The lawsuit resulted in an out-of-court cash settlement along with an agreement that Mrs. Reed and Mr. Koplow disseminate equal credit for the song's words and music.^[3][4]Music Views magazine reported in its June edition that Koplow's girlfriend had graduated from a girl's camp, where Ms.

Reed had served as a counselor.^[5]

Chart performance

"Oh Happy Day" (not to be confused with the gospel hit of the same name) was known as the "people's hit" since it became a national United States hit song as well as an international hit without any initial support from the tune industry.

Because the song was credited to an amateur, it flew under the radar of professionals in the music business. Bandleader Lawrence Welk agreed to record it as a vehicle for his bass-voiced singer, Larry Hooper. Hooper recalled, "We got ahold of a tune to record that nobody else wanted, and we gambled with it."

The song reached US number 3 in Cashbox and number 4 and 3 in Billboard′s two national charts, respectively) and Australia singles charts at number 1.

He is the son of Manes Hooper and Lillie Johnson. Larry Hooper, vocalist with a deep bass voice, unified the Lawrence Welk band inseven years before the show was broadcast on television, and the show was produced in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Larry Hooper passed away in of kidney failure, about a year after the Lawrence Welk show ended it regular seasons on syndicated television. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.

Time Magazine called it the "Mystery Hit" and described it as the "rarest kind of hit, unplanned and unplugged."^[2] It was first released on write down by Don Howard in initial November Within two months, Don Howard's "Oh Happy Day" was still going up the charts, when two other versions of the same song by Lawrence Welk and by the Four Knights also went up the US hit charts, Lawrence Welk's version reaching number 5 (Billboard US national charts) and the Four Knights' version reaching number 8 (Billboard US national charts).

"Oh Happy Day" by Don Howard reached number 4 on the Billboard Chart. The Billboard confusion arises from the truth that Billboard printed two charts. One ranking for individual designer recordings of a song and one for combined sales of a song by all of the recorded versions.

The number 3 ranking for "Oh Gleeful Day" in Billboard came from the Billboard "Honor Roll of Hits" listing. That ranking included all versions of "Oh Cheerful Day," not just the Don Howard version. The number 4 ranking in Billboard came from the chart listing "The Optimal Sellers in Stores" and only included sales of the Don Howard version.

It did arrive number 3 on the Cashbox Chart, which like the "Honor Roll of Hits" included all recordings of the same tune.

In reaching number 1 in Australia, this feat was achieved the week of July 18, , several months after Oh Happy Day charted in the United States.

The versions of Oh Happy Day performed by Lawrence Welk and by the Four Knights were cited together as the versions which made Oh Happy Day the number 1 hit in Australia. Observe Wikipedia article "List of number-one singles in Australia during the s."

Other versions

Other performers released recorded versions of "Oh Joyful Day" following the initial victory by Don Howard.

The January 10, , edition of Billboard cited Lawrence Welk's version (Coral) as a likely upcoming clap , and noted in its January 17, edition that the versions by Four Knights (Capitol) and Dick Todd (Decca) were also likely upcoming hits.

Because the song was credited to an amateur, it flew under the radar of professionals in the music business. Bandleader Lawrence Welk agreed to record it as a vehicle for his bass-voiced singer, Larry Hooper. Hooper recalled, "We got ahold of a tune to record that nobody else wanted, and we gambled with it.".

Other versions released by January in the US were those by J. Johnson (V), Mickey Baker (Savoy) and Ken Griffin (Columbia). In the Billboard Territorial Best Sellers (Popular) charts for the 15 highest markets in the US, Don Howard's version had the greatest success, a number 1 ranking in Chicago, Philadelphia and Novel Orleans and number 2 rankings in Pittsburgh and St.

Louis. The Four Knights achieved a number 1 ranking in Seattle and a number 2 ranking in Atlanta. Lawrence Welk, in turn, achieved a number 2 ranking in the Los Angeles and Denver markets. Finally, during the same time period that various versions of "Oh Content Day" were on the national US hit chart, Dick Todd's version charted at number 3 in New Orleans.^[6]

"Oh Happy Day" is the only song that charted three different versions of the song in the highest ten at the same period during calendar year This unprecedented achievement was otherwise unmatched for other years as well.

One million records are estimated to have been sold of "Oh Happy Day" by June ^[7]

Legacy and influence

In terms of legacy and influence, "Oh Happy Day" has been performed by numerous artists of various persuasions and interests.

Born in Independence, Missouri on July 22, Hoopie first joined Lawrence Welk's orchestra in originally as a pianist but once the Maestro heard Larry's deep rich bass voice singing a few bars, he became a featured vocalist with widespread songs such as "Oh Cheerful Day", "This Old House" and "Minnie The Mermaid". Hoopie was also a dedicated family bloke, he and his wife Beverly had three daughters, Lisa, Melinda and Laurie, and was an avid collector of model railroads. Plagued with ill health most of his life, Larry was off the show from to after a heart attack followed by complications that twice nearly took his life.

Folk versions (accompaniment by acoustic guitar only) were performed by Don Howard, Mickey Baker, Dolph Dixon, and Elvis Presley. Don Howard's version has been released on a recent CD compilation entitled Songs That Inspired the King in reference to Elvis Presley.

Elvis is known to have performed "Oh Happy Day" during the dress rehearsal for his Comeback Show and at an August 5, , concert at the Sahara in Las Vegas. He described the chord arrangement on "Oh Happy Day" as characteristic of early rock and roll, stating "Oh Happy Day" was similar to the songs "Blue Moon" and "Young Love" in this regard.

See Elvis's voice over on the CD From Burbank to Vegas, recorded at the Burbank Studios, Hollywood, where the dress rehearsal for the Comeback Show took place. The arrangement of Lawrence Welk's "Oh Happy Day" has also been described as early rock and roll.

A more traditional massive band s sound is heard in the rendition by Geraldo and His Orchestra (UK). Other versions demonstrate a jazz orientation or influence including those by Jimmy Giuffre, Dick Erickson and Ron Levin and Milt Levitt Orchestra.

Other international versions were performed by the Johnston Brothers (number 4 in the UK); Pilgrim With Rhythm Quartette (UK), Don Cameron (UK), Dave Carey (UK), Leo Heppe u.d. Continentals & Lutz Alberecht u.s. Orchester (Germany and sung in German); Mieke Telkamp (Germany) and Dick Todd (Canada).

The Four Knights rendition has been described as early doo-wop rock and roll and several more explicitly doo-wop versions followed in the s and s by the Singing Belles, the Skylites, Dion, Rick Martell & the Angels, the Five Satins, and Stephanie & the Gothics.

Dion's "Oh Cheerful Day", recorded in , has been described as a stand-out doo-wop recording on his "Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings” album. Other artists that have recorded "Oh Happy Day" include Tab Hunter, the Four Lads, Homer & Jethro, Kamahl, Bill Buchanan, the Honey Dreamers and Don McPherson and the Hy-powers.

Homer & Jethro's "Unhappy Day", a parody of "Oh Happy Day", stays faithful to the melody and brings forth a chuckle.

Not only did the teenagers set a pervasive influence in making "Oh Happy Day" a national and international hit, the song was heavily performed by local artists throughout the US.

In it was performed at minstrel shows, various high-school assemblies, homecoming festivities, music programs in farming communities, and at talent shows.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

The Welk arrangement of the song would become a regular feature on Welk's Dodge Dancing Party and its succeeding television shows, becoming Larry Hooper's signature song.

References