Rick Derringer
American musician
Died when: 77 years 294 days (933 months)Star Sign: Leo
Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer;August 5, 1947) was an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys.
Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was a number-one hit in 1965 and became a classic of the garage rock era.
The McCoys then had seven songs that charted in the top 100, including versions of "Fever" and "Come on Let’s Go".
In 1974, Derringer reached the US top 30 with his own song, "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo".He also worked extensively with the brothers Edgar and Johnny Winter, playing lead and backing guitar in their bands and producing all of their gold and platinum recordings, including Edgar Winter's hits "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride" (both 1973).
He has additionally worked with Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper and "Weird Al" Yankovic, producing Yankovic's Grammy Award-winning songs "Eat It" (1984) and "Fat" (1988).
Derringer also produced the World Wrestling Federation's album The Wrestling Album (1985) and its follow-up Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II (1987).The albums included the entrance song for Hulk Hogan, "Real American", and the Demolition tag team, "Demolition".
Derringer also produced three songs from the soundtrack of the 1984 Tom Hanks movie Bachelor Party.
