All American Boy

A tribute to rock guitar legend Rick Derringer (1947-2025)

- ANDY ALEDORT

RICK DERRINGER, LONG revered as one of rock's greatest guitarists, passed away at age 77 on May 26 at his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. Derringer first came to national prominence via the 1965 hit “Hang On Sloopy,” which he recorded with his band, the McCoys. It was released just as he was turning 17.

Thus began a long and storied career that found him working as a multi-instrumentalist on guitar, pedal steel and bass, and as a successful producer. The long list of artists he recorded with or produced includes Johnny and Edgar Winter, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Kiss, Cyndi Lauper, Barbara Streisand, Alice Cooper and Air Supply. He also produced, arranged and performed on six “Weird Al” Yankovic albums, including 1984's “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D, home of the Grammy-winning “Eat It.”

Derringer — born Richard Dean Zehringer on August 5, 1947, in Celina, Ohio — was raised in Fort Recovery, Ohio. As a child, Derringer was steeped in the music of his parents’ vast record collection and was initially inspired to play guitar by his uncle, Jim Thornburg, a successful local singer and guitarist. Derringer got his first electric guitar for his ninth birthday and quickly began playing music with his younger brother, Randy.

After the eighth grade, the Zehringers moved to Union City, Indiana, where Rick and Randy formed their first band, the McCoys, briefly known as the Rick Z Combo and then Rick and the Raiders before reverting to the McCoys. As Derringer told me in 1994, “The first song I learned to play was ‘The McCoy’ by the Ventures, and we took our name from that song.” By the time he went to high school, the family had moved to a town just outside of Dayton, Ohio.