John Wolters was the drummer for country-rock act Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, later known simply as Dr. Hook on their late '70s and early '80s hits.

He was born John Christian Wolters on April 28, 1945, in Pompton Lakes, N.J. Dr. Hook was formed in New Jersey in 1968 by singer/guitarist Ray Sawyer (who gave the band its name because of the patch he wore over an eye lost in a car accident).

The band had a global smash with "Sylvia's Mother" and a top-10 hit with "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" before Wolters replaced their original drummer on Fried Face (1974). In 1976 Dr. Hook (by then they had dropped the rest of their moniker) had a top-10 hit with a cover of Sam Cooke's "Only Sixteen" and a #11 hit with the title track of A Little Bit More.

Dr. Hook had several more hits including, the top-10 singles "Sharing the Night Together" (1978) and "When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman" (1979) as well as the top-five "Sexy Eyes" (1980).

The band had more than 35 gold and platinum LPs in Australia and Scandinavia, where they toured to large crowds until their 1985 split.

In 1997 Wolters died of liver cancer in San Francisco.