Writer: Rolf Kempf
Producer: Bob Ezrin
Recorded: December 1972 at Morgan Studios, London
Released: February 1973
| Players: | Mark Farner — vocals, guitar Don Brewer — drums, vocals Mel Schacher — bass |
| Album: | Billion Dollar Babies (Warner Bros., 1973) |
One of four hit singles from the Billion Dollar Babies album, “Hello Hooray” is a burlesque-style track that producer Bob Ezrin chose to open the album.
Alice Cooper notes, “Even though we didn't write it, we 'Cooperized' it, and it worked perfectly to open the album and the Billion Dollar Babies stage show.”
Bassist Dennis Dunaway adds, “Whenever I hear this song, I think of the stage lights coming up, the fog clearing, and the screams and faces of all the fans. That is the greatest feeling in the world.”
Ezrin, who orchestrated the song as well as producing it, considers “Hello Hooray” “my first real incursion into 'rock grandeur.'”
“Hello Hooray” peaked at Number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at Number Six in the U.K.
Billion Dollar Babies was Cooper's only Number One album but the group's third consecutive million-seller.
The album also hit Number One on the U.K. chart.
Recorded in Connecticut, New York City, and London, it was also the first Cooper album to make extensive use of outside musicians. Besides Donovan, it features Marc Bolan, Harry Nilsson, and guitarists Dick Wagner, Steve Hunter, and Mick Mashbir.
