Ray Sawyer
Ray "Eye Patch" Sawyer (born February 1, 1937, Chickasaw, Alabama, United States) is a singer best known as a vocalist with the 1970s rock band, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show.[1] Though primarily a backing vocalist & occasional percussionist on congas or maracas, he sang lead on the song "The Cover of Rolling Stone", the band's best-known song, and was a recognisable presence in the band due to the eyepatch & cowboy hat he wore.
Personal life
Sawyer lost his right eye in a 1967 automobile accident. He said the following about his life around the time of his accident: "I must have played all the clubs from Houston to Charleston until I decided I was going insane from too much beans and music, and I gave it up. I saw a John Wayne movie and proceeded to Portland, Oregon, to be a logger complete with plaid shirt, caulk boots, and pike pole. On the way my car slipped on the road and the accident left me with the eye patch I now wear. When I recovered I ran straight back to the beans and music and vowed, Here I'll stay."[2]
