HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.28.2024 Bob Dorough Plaque Unveling Ceremony
City of Plainview NEWS
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202 W. 5 Street
Plainview, TX 79072
March 28, 2024
Plainview Walk of Fame Committee Host
Bob Dorough Plaque Unveiling
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Ceremony on Tuesday, April 9
The Plainview Walk of Fame Committee will host a
Plaque Unveiling Ceremony posthumously honoring Bob
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Dorough on Tuesday, April 9 at 5:30 p.m. in front of the
Fair Theater (717 Broadway). The public is encouraged to
attend.
Raised in Plainview, Dorough participated in the Plainview
High School Band and in the Army band during World
War II. After the war, he attended North Texas State
University and Columbia University for graduate school.
During the 1950’s and 1960’s, Dorough worked with jazz
musicians including Miles Davis, Sugar Ray Robinson and Blossome Dearie as well as
other known artists including Allen Ginsberg, Lenny Bruce and Willam Blake.
Most notable, Dorough was the composer and performer for songs in the TV series
“Schoolhouse Rock!”, an educational animated television series from 1972 to 1996 with
direct-to-video releases in 2002 and 2009. Asked by an advertising agent to put the
multiplication tables to music, he wrote all the songs for Multiplication Rock, the first of
six eventual topics (including Grammar Rock, America Rock, Science Rock, Money
Rock and Earth Rock) to which he also contributed songs and performances.
In his later life Dorough continued to contribute, writing an illustrated book Blue Xmas
and three songs to accompany Maureen Sullivan's books about Carlos the French
bulldog: Ankle Soup, Custard and Mustard and Christmas Feet.
He was selected as a 2019 Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts; the
highest honor bestowed on jazz artists. An interview regarding his nomination can be
found at NEA Jazz Masters: Bob Dorough (2019) (youtube.com).
He also received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording for Children (1974),
inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame (1998) and received Pennsylvania
Governor’s Awards for the Arts Artist of the Year (2002). Dorough passed away in April
2018 at his home in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, at the age of 94.
Dorough’s daughter, Aralee, and family will be in attendance.
Members of the Plainview Walk of Fame Committee include Rodney Watson, Nicki
Logan, Jack Oswald and Lindsie Mathis. For more information, contact the City of
Plainview at 806.296.1100.
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