Editing Rick Derringer (section)

{{Short description|American musician (1947–2025)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Rick Derringer
| image             = Rick Derringer - New Haven - 39705766793 (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Derringer performing at [[New Haven Coliseum]] in 1977
| alt               = Derringer playing guitar onstage
| birth_name        = Richard Dean Zehringer
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1947|8|5|mf=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Celina, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2025|5|26|1947|8|5|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Ormond Beach, Florida]], U.S.
| instrument        = {{hlist|Guitar|vocals}}
| genre             = {{nobr|{{hlist|[[Hard rock]]|[[blues rock]]|[[pop rock]]}}}}
| occupation        = {{hlist|Musician|songwriter|producer}}{{force singular}}
| years_active      = 1965–2025
| label             = 
| past_member_of    = [[The McCoys]]
| website           = {{URL|https://rickderringer.com/}}
}}

'''Rick Derringer''' (born '''Richard Dean Zehringer'''; August 5, 1947 – May 26, 2025) was an American musician, producer and songwriter. He gained success in the 1960s with his band, [[the McCoys]]. Their debut single, "[[Hang On Sloopy]]", became a number-one hit in 1965 and is now regarded as a classic track from the [[garage rock]] era. The McCoys had seven songs chart in the top 100, including covers of "[[Fever (Little Willie John song)|Fever]]" and "[[Come On, Let's Go]]". After releasing ''[[All American Boy (Rick Derringer album)|All American Boy]]'', Derringer established a career as a solo artist.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/2025/music/news/rick-derringer-hang-on-sloopy-real-american-writer-dead-1236411000/ |title=Rick Derringer, Singer of 'Hang on Sloopy,' Writer of 'Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo' and 'Real American' Wrestling Theme, Dies at 77 |first=Jem |last=Aswad |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=May 27, 2025 |access-date=May 28, 2025}}</ref>

In 1973, Derringer found further success with his song "[[Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo]]". He also worked extensively with brothers [[Edgar Winter|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 (instrumental)|Frankenstein]]" and "[[Free Ride (song)|Free Ride]]" (both in 1973). Derringer also collaborated with [[Steely Dan]], [[Cyndi Lauper]], and [["Weird Al" Yankovic]], producing Yankovic's Grammy Award-winning songs "[[Eat It]]" (1984) and "[[Fat (song)|Fat]]" (1988). He also produced the [[WWE|World Wrestling Federation]]'s album ''[[The Wrestling Album]]'' (1985) and its follow-up, ''[[Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II]]'' (1987). Those albums featured [[Hulk Hogan]]'s entrance song, "Real American" initially the theme song of the tag team [[U.S. Express]] <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-derringer-dies-hang-on-sloopy-hulk-hogan-theme-song-age-77/|title=Rick Derringer, who shot to fame with "Hang On Sloopy" and sang Hulk Hogan's theme song, dies at 77|publisher=CBS News|date=May 28, 2025|access-date=May 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="realamerican">{{cite news |url=https://www.darientimes.com/entertainment/article/rick-derringer-dead-hulk-hogan-real-american-wwe-20347758.php |title=Rick Derringer Dead Hulk : Hogan Real : American WWE |first=Daniel |last=Figueroa |newspaper=[[The Darien Times]] |date=May 27, 2025 |access-date=May 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="realamericanorigin">{{cite book |first1=Greg |last1=Oliver |first2=Steve |last2=Johnson |title=The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams |publisher=[[ECW Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-5502-2683-6}}</ref> and the [[Demolition (professional wrestling)|Demolition]] tag team's theme, "Demolition". Derringer also produced three songs on the soundtrack of the 1984 [[Tom Hanks]] film ''[[Bachelor Party (1984 film)|Bachelor Party]]''.