Dorothy Sloop
{{short description|American jazz musician}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2017}}
Dorothy Sloop (September 26, 1913 – July 28, 1998), was an American jazz pianist who performed with jazz bands. A native of Ohio, her nickname was Sloopy,{{cite web |url=http://boomermagazine.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=9 |title=How well do you know 'Sloopy'? |accessdate=2008-03-23 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615162918/http://boomermagazine.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=9 |archivedate=June 15, 2008 }}, Boomer Magazine. and she was likely the inspiration behind the song "Hang On Sloopy", written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns, and best-known from the version recorded by the rock band The McCoys.{{cite news |last1=Joy |first1=Kevin |title=Mystery surrounds Steubenville native who inspired 'Hang On Sloopy' |url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2013/09/26/the-sloopy-scoop.html |access-date=2023-03-30 |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=2013-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723171245/https://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2013/09/26/the-sloopy-scoop.html |archive-date=2021-07-23}} In 1985, it became the official rock song of Ohio and is used by the Ohio State University marching band.
File:This_Week_in_New_Orleans_Dec_4_1948_-_Dixie%27s_Bar_of_Music_-_Dixie_and_Sloop.jpg
File:Dixie%27s_Bar_of_Music,_1964_-_701_Bourbon_Street,_New_Orleans.jpg
Early life
Sloop was born into a Catholic family in Steubenville, Ohio. She learned piano as a youth and began performing in local theaters as young as age six, including a concert with another Steubenville native, Dean Martin. She studied for a year at Ohio University.
Career
Sloop left college and moved to New York City where she formed a jazz quartet, the Southland Rhythm Girls, with singer and clarinetist Yvonne "Dixie" Fasnacht. They moved to Fasnacht's hometown New Orleans, Louisiana, and played in Dixie's Bar of Music, a bar on Bourbon Street owned and run by Fasnacht. In 1957, they recorded the album Dixie and Sloopy.{{cite web |last1= Tucker |first1= Sherrie |title=Rocking the Cradle of Jazz: Women who changed the face of music |url= http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2004/jazz.asp|website=Ms. Magazine|accessdate=19 November 2016|date=2004|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181014035228/http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2004/jazz.asp|archive-date=14 October 2018|url-status=dead}}
Sloop returned to Steubenville, where she earned her college degree and later a master's degree. For 30 years, she taught special education in St. Petersburg, Florida. She continued to perform on jazz piano into her 70s.
Personal life
Notes
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs artist|Dorothy Sloop}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sloop, Dorothy}}
Category:American women jazz pianists
Category:American jazz pianists
Category:People from Steubenville, Ohio
Category:20th-century American pianists