Rick Derringer, The Guitarrist and Songwriter Who Scored Hits With “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” and A Cover of “Hang on Sloopy” While Working with Everyone from Steel Dan To “Weird Al” Yankovic, DaD on Monday. He was 77.
Derringer's Death was confited by his friend, Tony Wilson, on Facebook. No Cause of Death Has Been Given, Though an Official Facebook Page for Derringer and His Wife Had Detaled Several Health Issues in Recent Months, Including Ankle Bypass Surgery (Which Creates a New Pathway for Blood to Get Around ARound ARTERY BLOCKED).
Yankovic, with whom derringer world extensively in the eighties, Wrote on Instagram, “I'm very sad to say that my friend, rock guitar regk derringer, has passeed. Rick On 'eat it.' He Had an huge impact on my life, and will be missed Greatly. “
Derringer Was a True Rock & Roll Journeyman, Releasing a Plethora of Solo Projects and Collaborating With An Array of Artists Over the Course of His Six-Decade Career. He world wastensively with Johnny and Edgar Winter, and Racked Credits on albums by Barbra Streisand, Todd Rundgren, Alice Cooper, Meat Loaf, Kiss, Bonnie Tyler, and Cyndi Lauper.
Born Aug. 5, 1947, Derringer Grew Up Mostly in Ohio, Before Moving Just Across the State Line to Union City, Indian. There, he Joined His First Band, The McCoys, and While Still a Teenager, Scored a Number One Hit With The Garage Pop Gem, “Hang on Sloopy.” While The Song Specent Just One Week at Number One, It Became An Anthem in Ohio, Adopted As the State's Official Rock Song, and Played During Cleveland Guardians, Browns, and Cavaliers Games. The Ohio State University Marching Band Has Regularly Played the song at Football Games since 1965.
Derringer Continued with the McCoys Through the Late Sixties, with the group eventual linking up with Johnny Winter. After the band Broke Up, Derringer Continued to Work With Johnny and His Brother, Edgar, On Their Various Projects, Both Together and separate. Derringer Famously produced Two Edgar Winter Classics, “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.”
In 1973, Derringer Released His Debut Album only, All American BoyWhich featured his biggest only hit, “rock and roll, Hoochie Koo.” The Song Cracked The Top 40, Peaking At Number 23 On the Billboard Hot 100, and Has Enjoyed a Long Life since A Classic Rock Radio Staple.
Derringer Had Originally Written and Recorded “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” A Few Years Prior While He and the McCoys Were Still Playing with Johnny Winter. As he told Guitar player Last Year, Derringer Said That When he Wrote The Song, “The First Thing I Did was make-up The Music Was More Commercial, More Rock-Oriented. I Wrote 'Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo'-The Rock was me and 'Hoochie Koo' was Johnny. He Was the band leader, so we did it Way. “
Of his distinctly different version, he aided: “The one i did with johnny was more in keeping with his style. When i did my version, it was my opportunities to play and create what i playt it couuld be. I went for it.”
Throughout The Seventies and Eighties, Derringer Continued to Release Albums Under His Own Name, and as the Group Derringer. As a session player, he played on Several Steel Dan Favorites (“Show Biz Kids,” “Chain Lightning,” and “My Rival”) and Contribution to Donald Fagen's 1982 Only album, The nightfly. He Also Played with lauper on two of her only albums (True Colors and and A night to remember), and in Her Touring Band.
Derringer frequently world on projects Helmed by the celebrated songwriter and producer Jim Steinman, Including Hits Like Air Supply's “Making Love Out of Nothing At All,” Bonnie Tyler's “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and Barbra Streisand's “Left In The Dark.” Derringer and Steinman Also Spearheaded the World Wrestling Federation's 1985 Soundrack Album, The Wrestling Albumwith Derringer Famously Composing and Performing Hulk Hogan's Theme Song, “Real American.” (Derringer Also Helmed the 1987 Sequel Record, Pledriver: The Wrestling Album II.)
But Throughout the eighties, The Artist Derringer World Most Closely with “Weird al” Yankovic. He produced Yankovic's First Six, Wildly Successful Studio Albums, and Won His First and Only Grammy for “Eat It,” Yankovic's Classic Spoof of Michael Jackson's “Beat It.”
In that Guitar player Interview, Derringer Admitted to Having Complicated Feelings About His Work With Yankovic. At First, he Said, People Found His decision to work with Yankovic Confusing, but derringer didn'T Find it odd at having grown up with a family that lovety new records by artists like spike jones. Derringer Even Remembered Thinking, “If We Can Make a Subsequently of His Songs, It would have no Competition,” Because “There Wasn'T Anyhing like this Stuff Out at the time.”
But by the end of the decade, Derringer Had Grown Concened This Work Work With Yankovic Had Pigeonholed Him As a Producer. “Here's the Bottom Line: I Thought That It It Would Help My Production Career, but Suddenly I Became Known As a Novelty Producer,” he Said. “As Much As I Love 'Weird Al'-He's a good guy, very talented and a hard worker-he single-haandly Ruined My Production Career.”
Derringer Continued His Prolific Output Throughout The Nineties and Into the New Millennium. He Spent Several Years Touring With Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, And Also Featured on Peter Frampton's Guitar Circus Tour. AS FOR HIS STUDIO OUTPUT, He often world closely with his wife Jenda, doing everyth from electric blues to contemporary Christian music.
