Larry LaPrise

Larry LaPrise ( Roland Lawrence LaPrise) (November 11, 1912[1] - April 4, 1996[2]) at one point held the U.S. copyright for the song "Do The Hokey Pokey".

LaPrise was born in Detroit, Michigan. He wrote "Do The Hokey Pokey" in the early 1940s for the après-ski crowd at a club in Sun Valley, Idaho. The song was first recorded by his group the Ram Trio (with Charles Macak and Tafit Baker) in 1948. They were awarded U.S. copyright in 1950.

After the group broke up in the mid-1960s, LaPrise worked for the Post Office in Ketchum, Idaho.

The authorship of the Hokey Pokey is disputed, with European songwriter Jimmy Kennedy claiming to have written the original (entitled "Cokey-Cokey") during WWII. Robert Degan sued LaPrise for copyright infringement of his 1946 "The Hokey-Pokey Dance". They settled out of court.

LaPrise died, aged 83, in Gooding, Idaho.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/roland-lawrence-laprise-mn0001294554
  2. ↑ http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=75;t=001191;p=1


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