Dorothy Sloop (September 26, 1913 – July 28, 1998), also later known as Dorothy Sloop Heflick, was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist who performed with female jazz bands. A native of Ohio, her nickname was Sloopy,, ''Boomer Magazine''. and she was likely the inspiration behind the song "

Hang On Sloopy "Hang On Sloopy" (originally "My Girl Sloopy") is a 1964 song written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns. Rhythm and blues vocal group the Vibrations were the first to record the tune in 1964. Atlantic Records released it as a single, which reached ...

" by the rock band

The McCoys The McCoys were a rock music, rock group formed in Union City, Indiana, Union City, Indiana, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single "Hang On Sloopy". Their name was changed from Rick and the Raiders to The McCoys, ...

which became the official rock song of Ohio in 1985 and is used by the

Ohio State University marching band The Ohio State University Marching Band (OSUMB) is a university marching band named for and a part of the Ohio State University. The band, popularly nicknamed The Best Damn Band in the Land (TBDBITL), performs at football games and other events d ...

This_Week_in_New_Orleans_Dec_4_1948_-_Dixie%27s_Bar_of_Music_-_Dixie_and_Sloop

Early life

Sloop was born into a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family in

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a 1 ...

. 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 Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

. She studied for a year at

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

Career

Sloop left college and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and played in Dixie's Bar of Music, a bar on

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (french: Rue Bourbon, es, Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars an ...

owned and run by Fasnacht. In 1957, they recorded the album ''Dixie and Sloopy''. Sloop returned to Steubenville, and she earned her college degree and later a master's degree. For 30 years, she taught

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. She continued to perform on jazz piano into her 70s.

Personal life

Sloop was married to Joe Boudreaux. They moved to Steubenville, then divorced. Their daughter Jane Heflick was given a different surname, the maiden name of one of Dorothy's grandmothers. Dorothy Sloop died at age 84 in 1998.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sloop, Dorothy 1913 births 1998 deaths Women jazz pianists American jazz pianists People from Steubenville, Ohio 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists Jazz musicians from Ohio