American rock guitarist and singer Rick Derringer, who shot to fame at 17 when his band The McCoys recorded Hang On Sloopy, has died aged 77. He also had a hit with Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo and earned a Grammy Award for producing âWeird Alâ Yankovicâs debut album. Derringer died on Monday in in Ormond Beach, Florida, according to a Facebook announcement from his caretaker, Tony Wilson. No cause of death was announced. Derringerâs decades in the music industry spanned teen stardom, session work for bands like Steely Dan, supplying the guitar solo on Bonnie Tylerâs Total Eclipse of the Heart and producing for Cyndi Lauper.
His best-charting album was All American Boy in 1973, which included the instrumentals Joy Ride and Time Warp. He also worked extensively with brothers Edgar and Johnny Winter, playing lead and rhythm guitar in their bands and producing all of their gold and platinum records, including Edgar Winter’s hits “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” (both in 1973). He produced Yankovic’s Grammy Award-winning songs “Eat It” (1984) and “Fat” (1988). Additionally, Derringer produced the World Wrestling Federation’s album The Wrestling Album (1985) and its follow-up, Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II (1987). Those albums featured the entrance song for Hulk Hogan, “Real American“, and the theme for the Demolition tag team, “Demolition”. Derringer also produced three songs from the soundtrack of the 1984 Tom Hanks film Bachelor Party.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Derringer worked extensively as a session musician, playing on albums by Steely Dan â including Countdown to Ecstasy, Katy Lied and Gaucho â Todd Rundgren, Kiss and Barbra Streisand. He played on Air Supplyâs Making Love Out of Nothing at All. In the mid-1980s he began working with Lauper, touring in her band and playing on three of her albums, including the hit True Colours. He toured with Ringo Starr and The All-Starr Band. In 2001, Derringer, Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice released the album Derringer, Bogert & Appice (DBA): Doin’ Business as… on the German record label Steamhammer Records. Starting in 2001 Derringer, his wife, and their children released the first two of four Christian music albums, all through Panda Studio Production.