The low, rolling "oom poppa mow mow" that opens every radio play of "Elvira" belonged to Richard Sterban, the bass singer who anchored The Oak Ridge Boys for more than fifty years. Sterban died on November 14, 2026, in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was 83.

When The Oak Ridge Boys cut their cover of "Elvira" in 1981, the song already had a decade behind it. It was Sterban's bass line, dropped into the chorus like a held breath before the beat returns, that turned the track into a signature. The record reached number one on the country chart and crossed into the pop top five, giving the quartet a hit that still gets requested decades later, according to The Music Universe.

Born April 24, 1943, in Camden, New Jersey, Sterban started singing at six years old, a soprano in his church's Sunday school. By eighth grade his voice had dropped all the way to bass, and he built a career around it. He sold men's clothing to pay the bills while singing with a gospel quartet called The Keystones, then moved up to J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, the group that sang nightly behind Elvis Presley and appeared alongside him in the documentary "Elvis on Tour."

In 1972, with a steady job behind the King of Rock and Roll already in hand, Sterban made the move that defined his career: he joined The Oak Ridge Boys as bass singer, standing alongside lead singer Duane Allen, baritone William Lee Golden and tenor Joe Bonsall. "I've been an Oak Ridge Boy for 51 years. You know, the best part of my life has been spent here singing with The Oak Ridge Boys," he told the Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald in 2023, looking back on that decision.

The honors followed the music. Over Sterban's tenure, the Oak Ridge Boys sold more than 41 million records, collected 12 gold albums, three platinum albums and a double platinum album, and racked up more than a dozen number one singles and over 30 top ten hits. The group earned Grammy, Dove, CMA and ACM awards along the way and entered the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2000. On August 6, 2011, Little Jimmy Dickens inducted the quartet into the Grand Ole Opry, where former President George H.W. Bush sent a video greeting crediting his own fandom to hearing the group perform "Elvira" on the White House lawn, according to Taste of Country. Four years later, on October 25, 2015, Sterban and his bandmates were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Away from the stage, Sterban held a minority stake in the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team for roughly three decades, lent his bass voice to NOAA Weather Radio public service announcements, and voiced programming for SiriusXM's "The Roadhouse" channel. He collected wine, kept fit cycling, and took to sailing in his spare time. He also co-wrote a memoir, "From Elvis to Elvira," tracing the road from the Stamps Quartet to the Oak Ridge Boys stage.

In September 2025, Sterban told fans he was stepping back from touring for health reasons. "Most days I'm feeling very good, and I hope to be back out on the road in several months," he wrote in a statement posted by The Oak Ridge Boys. He had last performed with the group in May 2025 at the Academy of Country Music Awards. On January 30 and 31, 2026, he returned to the Grand Ole Opry stage to sing "Elvira" once more. "Richard, coming out to sing with us on 'Elvira,' was a soul-stirring experience for me," lead singer Duane Allen said afterward. "Having Richard on stage with us again was one of God's greatest blessings," Allen added, in a statement shared by The Oak Ridge Boys.

Sterban died on November 14, 2026, in Hendersonville, Tennessee. "It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our partner and brother, Richard Sterban," the Oak Ridge Boys said in a statement. His family added, "We appreciate all of your love, support, and prayers. Please continue to lift us up in this difficult time, we find comfort knowing that he is currently face to face with Jesus." He is survived by his wife, Donna, daughters Lauren and Tori, sons Rich, Doug and Chris, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Sterban's bass is still the first voice a listener hears when "Elvira" comes on the radio, the low run that turned a Dallas Frazier song into a country standard. The Grand Ole Opry membership, the Country Music Hall of Fame induction, the memoir on the shelf, the Nashville Sounds dugout he once owned a piece of: all of it traces back to a boy in a Camden Sunday school who kept chasing a lower note. Fifty-four years after he stood beside Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Joe Bonsall for the first time, the four-part harmony he helped build is still what fans mean when they say the Oak Ridge Boys sound.