Rick Derringer, who had a hit with ’Hang On Sloopy’, dies at 77

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Published May 27, 2025  •  2 minute read

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Guitarist Rick Derringer performs at Radio City Music Hall in New York on July 7, 2010. Photo by Evan Agostini /AP

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Guitarist and singer Rick Derringer, who shot to fame at 17 when his band The McCoys recorded “Hang On Sloopy,” had a hit with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” and earned a Grammy Award for producing “Weird Al” Yankovic’s debut album, has died. He was 77.

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Derringer died Monday in in Ormond Beach, Florida, according to a Facebook announcement from his caretaker, Tony Wilson. No cause of death was announced.

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Derringer’s decades in the music industry spanned teen stardom, session work for bands like Steely Dan, supplying the guitar solo on Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and producing for Cyndi Lauper.

“Derringer’s legacy extends beyond his music, entertaining fans with his signature energy and talent. His passing leaves a void in the music world, and he will be deeply missed by fans, colleagues, and loved ones,” Wilson wrote.

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As a teen, he formed the McCoys with his brother, Randy, and found fame singing “Hang On Sloopy,” a No. 26 hit about lovers from different socioeconomic circumstances. Derringer enjoyed his first solo hit with “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo,” which was used in the fourth season of “Stranger Things.”

His best-charting album was “All American Boy” in 1973, which included the instrumentals “Joy Ride” and “Time Warp.” His sole Grammy was for Yankovic’s “Eat It,” which had the Michael Jackson parodies “Eat It” and “Who’s Fat.”

Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Derringer worked extensively as a session musician, playing on albums by Steely Dan — including “Countdown to Ecstasy,” “Katy Lied” and “Gaucho” — Todd Rundgren, Kiss and Barbra Streisand. He played on Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.”

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In the mid-1980s he began working with Lauper, touring in her band and playing on three of her albums, including the hit “True Colors.” He toured with Ringo Starr and The All-Starr Band.

In 1985, he produced the World Wrestling Federation’s “The Wrestling Album,” which consisted primarily mostly of pro wrestlers’ theme songs, many of which he co-wrote, including what would become Hulk Hogan’s theme song “Real American.”

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