Richard Sterban 1943 – 2026

Biography

Richard Anthony Sterban was an American bass singer whose deep voice anchored The Oak Ridge Boys for more than five decades. Born in Camden, New Jersey, on April 24, 1943, and raised in nearby Collingswood, he sang gospel as a young man and toured behind Elvis Presley before leaving that job in late 1972 to join the Oak Ridge Boys. His rumbling “oom papa mow mow” refrain on the group’s 1981 hit “Elvira” became one of the most recognizable sounds in American music, and the quartet went on to win Grammy Awards and enter the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015. Sterban lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee, for more than fifty years. He stepped back from performing in September 2025 while battling pancreatic cancer, but returned to the Grand Ole Opry stage on January 30 and 31, 2026, to sing “Elvira” to a standing ovation. He died in Hendersonville on November 14, 2026, of complications from bronchitis and pneumonia after a long battle with cancer, aged 83.