If the old joke has it that Hollywood journeyman Kevin Bacon can be linked to anyone in the film industry within six moves, the same was surely true of Rick Derringer’s thumbprint on the rock ’n’ roll scene of the 70s and 80s.
The Ohio-born guitarist – who died in May aged 77 – was never a household name (although he came close with 1965’s Hang On Sloopy and 1973’s Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo). But as a songwriter, producer, sideman, gun-for-hire or guitar designer, Derringer was never far from the A-list, making vital contributions to the work of such notables as Johnny Winter, Steely Dan, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Meat Loaf and ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.
Inspired by Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, and declaring himself “a natural” on his first Harmony electric guitar, Derringer was just 17 when his band, The McCoys, topped the Billboard chart with 1965’s Hang On Sloopy (a song that had sunk a year earlier when released by R&B vocal group The Vibrations).
“That was one take,” he reflected of the song’s precocious lead break. “They said, ‘Now it’s time to play the solo.’ I just came up with it on the spot.”
Subsequent covers of Peggy Lee’s Fever and Ritchie Valens’ Come On, Let’s Go also flew – while David Bowie would later put his spin on the group’s own Sorrow – but The McCoys’ attempts to rebrand as a serious psychedelic act fell flat and the guitarist (along with brother Randy) found refuge as Johnny Winter’s backing band.
“It was a contest every night to see who could play the best,” reflected Derringer in one of his final interviews. “Suddenly I was playing with a legit guy. That opened the doors for me. Johnny asked me to produce his records.”
As well as manning the desk, the new boy also wrote Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo, and loaned it to the Texas bluesman for 1970’s Johnny Winter And album. The song raced to US No 23 when Derringer did it his way three years later, on solo debut All American Boy, but while this breakthrough should have put the guitarist in the fast lane, he’d never hit such heights again (at least, not with his own name on the marquee).
Instead, Derringer settled into his enduring role as catalyst to the stars, from producing Johnny’s brother Edgar (on hits like Frankenstein and Free Ride) to bringing Yankovic to the MTV generation. “Rick produced my first six albums and played guitar on my earliest recordings, including the solo on Eat It,” wrote the parody-rocker in one of the first eulogies to appear online. “He had an enormous impact on my life and will be missed greatly.”
Derringer’s varied commissions also included penning wrestler Hulk Hogan’s flag-waving ring anthem, Real American, touring with Cyndi Lauper and punching up material as eclectic as Alice Cooper’s Killer and Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse Of The Heart.
He cited his own favourite guitar solo as Air Supply’s Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, but he could handle high-brow muso gigs, too, popping up on various Steely Dan albums – and nailing his parts so well that the notoriously demanding Donald Fagen and Walter Becker never asked him to revisit them.
His talents even extended to guitar design, Derringer hoping the B.C. Rich Stealth he conceived in the early 80s would make a Les Paul-style impact on the industry (it didn’t, but it’s still sold by the company to this day).
“People have become infatuated with heavy solidbody guitars for no real reason,” he told Guitar World of the svelte starfish-esque design. “This is a lightweight, modern-looking guitar. It’s sleek, and the girls tell me it’s sexy-looking. I’m one of the few guitarists who has designed an instrument from inception.”
In the end, though, Derringer’s legacy is a thousand flashes of brilliance, rather than one defining statement. It means his passing will be more quietly mourned than his more visible peers, but his DNA swirls in some of the best rock music out there, and it would have sounded different without him. “Rest in peace my friend,” wrote Joe Bonamassa. “It was an honour to know you, work with you and call you a friend.”
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
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