An Arkansas-born composer whose way with a melody and lyrics taught a generation of Saturday morning cartoon-watching children math, grammar and social studies died Monday at his home in Mount Bethel, Pa.
Bob Lrod Dorough, musical director of the popular educational animated series Schoolhouse Rock and a 1998 inductee into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame, died of natural causes, said his son, Chris. He was 94.
On songs like "3 Is A Magic Number," "Conjunction Junction" and others, Dorough wrote math and grammar lessons in the form of catchy singalongs for the series that ran from 1973-85 on ABC.
He was an accomplished musician, vocalist and composer who released dozens of albums as a band leader and as a sideman.
"Bob was the most genuine, sincere, kindest person I have ever known," said English teacher and pianist Jason Chism of Arkadelphia, who was 14 when he first met Dorough. "As a musician, but more importantly as a human being, he was my North Star. He is who I aspire to be."
Alita Mantels, secretary of the Arkansas Jazz Heritage Foundation, described Dorough as a jazz triple threat.
"He wasn't just a pianist. He wasn't just a composer. He wasn't just a vocalist. He was all three simultaneously, equally proficient and unique."
Born Dec. 12, 1923, in Cherry Hill near Mena to Robert Lee Dorough and Alma Audrey Lewis, Dorough moved with his family to Plainview, Texas, in 1934, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. It was while playing with the high school band there that he fell in love with music.
"There was something about the ensemble, a lot of kids playing different horns, and it all fit like a glove when it was good," he said in a 2017 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette interview. "I said to my parents, 'I'm going to be a musician.'"
Dorough attended Texas Tech University for three years and was drafted into the Army in 1943, where he performed in the military Special Services band. After being discharged in 1945, he earned a bachelor's degree in music from North Texas State Teachers College (now the University of North Texas).
He moved to New York to pursue a master's degree from Columbia University but dropped out and went to work as a pianist.
While working as a union musician playing for classes at a tap-dance studio, he met boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, who had left the ring for a musical career. Dorough became Robinson's musical director and toured with the ex-champ until 1954.
His first full-length album, Devil May Care, was released in 1956. The title cut was later covered by his friend Miles Davis. Dorough and his distinctive vocals would also appear on "Nothing Like You," a track from Davis' 1962 album Sorcerer.
In 1971, Dorough was commissioned by an advertising agency to set the multiplication tables to music for the 1973 album Multiplication Rock. The record inspired the animated Schoolhouse Rock series. Along with working as musical director, Dorough wrote 22 of the 52 songs featured in the cartoons, according to the Arkansas history encyclopedia.
His last concert in Arkansas was a May 19, 2017, show with the Ted Ludwig Trio that was part of the Arkansas Sounds Series at the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock.
"Bob's musical prowess did not decline," said James Thomson, president of the Arkansas Jazz Heritage Foundation. "When he came here the last time, he was as good as he was when I saw him the first time in 1998."
Metro on 04/25/2018