Rick Derringer, whose six-decade career spanned teen stardom as lead singer of the ‘60s smash “Hang on Sloopy,” a ‘70s solo hit with “Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo,” session work with artists from Steely Dan to Barbra Streisand, and extensive work as a writer and producer of wrestling themes, including Hulk Hogan’s seemingly ageless “Real American,” has died, according to an announcement from his caretaker, Tony Wilson, and Guitar Player magazine. Wilson’s post states that Derringer died Monday evening in Ormond Beach, Fl. No cause of death was announced although Derringer had been in ill health in recent months; he was 77.
A remarkably versatile guitarist, a strong singer and a high-profile presence on New York’s rock scene of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Derringer also produced the Edgar Winter Group’s 1972 smash single “Frankenstein” and served as the band’s guitarist for several years; worked closely with Winter’s brother Johnny as a guitarist and producer; produced “Weird” Al Yankovic’s first album; and even gave Patti Smith her first major credit, on the song “Jump” from Derringer’s 1973 debut solo album, “All-American Boy.”
His eponymous band released several albums and toured heavily throughout the 1970s — the band’s final major incarnation featured Neil Giraldo, who immediately afterward scored major success as Pat Benatar’s cowriter and guitarist (and husband to this day). Derringer and his first wife, Liz, were also members of Andy Warhol’s extended circle and frequently appeared in rock magazines of the era. In his later years he worked extensively with singer Cyndi Lauper, produced Weird Al Yankovic’s first album, and wrote and produced many popular theme songs for wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan’s “Real American,” which has the curious legacy of being used as a theme song by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Born Richard Dean Zehringer in Ohio in 1947, the young Derringer received a guitar for his ninth birthday and began playing gigs with his uncle, a country musicians. As a teen he formed a band called the McCoys with his brother Randy. In the summer of 1965 the songwriting-production team the Strangeloves — who’d scored a major hit with “I Want Candy” — hired the group as a backing band and soon after enlisted them to record the song “My Girl Sloopy,” the title of which was later altered to “Hang on Sloopy.” The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer — replacing Barry McGuire’s grim “Eve of Destruction” — around the time Derringer (still working under his born name) turned 18. The hit has become a kind of theme song for Derringer’s home state of Ohio and, in a foretelling of his later years making music for professional sports, has been a staple of Ohio State football game for decades.
The McCoys had minor follow-up hits but did not repeat that success, and began working with blues guitarist Johnny Winter and his brother Edgar in the late 1960s, touring with both and playing on and producing their albums. That partnership produced a massive single with 1972’s “Frankenstein,” an instrumental the band had been playing around with for years; the title came from the look of the master tape, which had so many segments spliced together that the musicians said it resembled the horror-movie character’s stitches. The song, produced by Derringer, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1973; he went on to replace Ronnie Montrose in the band shortly after and remained the Edgar Winter Group’s guitarist for the next three years.
That same year, Derringer enjoyed his first solo hit with “Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo” (which has had such a long life that it was used in the fourth season of “Stranger Things”) and, after leaving Winter, launched his self-titled solo band, which toured extensively throughout the decade and released several albums. Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s Derringer also worked extensively as a session musician, playing on albums by Steely Dan (including “Countdown to Ecstasy,” “Katy Lied” and “Gaucho”), Todd Rundgren, Kiss and even Barbra Streisand; in the early 1980s he soloed on massive singles written by Meatloaf mastermind Jim Steinman, Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.”
In the mid-1980s he began working with singer Cyndi Lauper, touring in her band and playing on three of her albums (including the hit “True Colors”), but perhaps more significant was the fact that it led to his entrée into the world of professional wrestling. In 1985, he produced the World Wrestling Federation’s “The Wrestling Album,” which consisted primarily mostly of pro wrestlers’ theme songs, many of which he co-wrote. Most notable among these was Hulk Hogan’s theme song “Real American,” which was used by President Barack Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner when unveiling his birth certificate; was used as a campaign song by Hillary Clinton, and, inevitably, frequently by President Donald Trump.
In his later years he toured with Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band as well as Peter Frampton, Carmine Appice and others, aligned with conservative causes and released several Christian-themed albums with his wife, Jenda.
