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The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Rick Derringer obituary
As a member of the American band the McCoys, the guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer Rick Derringer, who has died aged 77, scored a US No 1 hit with the 1965 single Hang on Sloopy, which also made it to No 5 in the UK. Later he went on to record and perform with some of the most famous names in the music industry over a career spanning six decades. Hang on Sloopy, with Derringer on vocals, was not the McCoys' own song; written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns, it had first been recorded the year before by the Los Angeles soul vocal group Vibrations, and had largely gone unnoticed, although it quickly became a favourite of US garage rock bands of the era. The McCoys' version made the song popular across the world, and they went on to have a another Top 10 hit in the US with a cover of Fever, written by Eddie Cooley and John Davenport, and a Top 40 interpretation of Come on, Let's Go, written by Ritchie Valens. However, two subsequent psychedelic albums failed to build on the popularity of those singles, and when the group disbanded in 1969, Derringer joined the blues guitarist Johnny Winter to play on Johnny Winter And (1970) and Live Winter And (1971). He also recorded with Johnny's younger brother, Edgar Winter, producing the hit singles Frankenstein (1973) and Free Ride (1973), among others. That work gained him a strong reputation as a guitarist and producer, and he subsequently worked with Alice Cooper and Todd Rundgren, played slide guitar on the Steely Dan single Show Biz Kids (1973), and a guitar solo on the song Chain Lightning, on their Katy Lied album (1975). He also worked with Bonnie Tyler, Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, and in 1986 Cyndi Lauper called on him to provide guitar work for two tracks on her album True Colors. Another powerhouse vocalist, Barbra Streisand, featured him as lead guitar player on her single Left in the Dark (1984), and he played on Air Supply's Making Love Out of Nothing at All (1983) as well as Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983). In addition he toured three times with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr band, and played in a performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York with Paul McCartney to celebrate Starr's 70th birthday in 2010. Derringer was born Richard Zehringer in Celina in Ohio, the son of John, a railway worker, and his wife, Janice (nee Thornburg), and grew up in Fort Recovery, Ohio. His family moved to Union City, Indiana, when he was in his early teens, and it was there that he began his music career in 1962, forming Rick and the Raiders with his brother Randy on drums and Dennis Kelly on bass. With expansion and personnel changes, they eventually became the McCoys, and following the success of Hang On Sloopy, Derringer also changed his name – in order, he said, to make it easier to pronounce and remember. Derringer's first solo album, All American Boy (1973), featured his composition Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo, which has become a classic of rock radio. The track was released as a single that peaked at No 23 on the US charts, and is featured on the soundtracks of Richard Linklater's movie Dazed and Confused (1993) and in season four of the Netflix series Stranger Things (2022). Subsequent solo albums were not commercially successful, but the list of artists that Derringer worked with in the 80s read like a Who's Who of popular recording acts of the era. Two of his more left-field collaborations came as producer of the first six albums for the comedy musician Weird Al Yankovic and of two albums of music in conjunction with the World Wrestling Federation, The Wrestling Album (1985) and Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II (1987), both featuring the theme music of various wrestlers. His song Real American was the theme for the tag team US Express and subsequently for Hulk Hogan, and in 2011 President Barack Obama used that tune as walk-on music at the White House correspondents' dinner while his birth certificate was displayed on a video screen; an irony given that Derringer was a Donald Trump supporter. With his third wife, Jenda Hall, Derringer later recorded four Christian-themed albums. Two earlier marriages, to the journalist Liz Agriss and then to the singer and percussionist Dyan Buckelew, ended in divorce. He is survived by Jenda and a daughter, Mallory, from his second marriage. Richard Dean Derringer (Zehringer), musician, born 5 August 1947; died 26 May 2025
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Mariah Carey's Career-Saving Single Earns Another Major Win
Mariah Carey dominated the Billboard charts throughout the 1990s like few before her ever had, and she mounted something of a career comeback in the mid-2000s. After a few years of relative commercial disappointments, the song that helped relaunch her to the top of the rankings and cemented her status as a true hitmaker once again has earned a new platinum certification — and in doing so, breaks out of a tie. "We Belong Together" has now been certified seven times-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The track was previously awarded a six-times platinum plaque in September 2022. In the nearly three years since then, it has shifted another one million equivalent units, combining pure purchases and streaming activity. As it moves up from six- to seven-times platinum, "We Belong Together" breaks its tie with "Fantasy" and now stands alone as Carey's second most-certified single ever. "Fantasy" dips to third place on Carey's all-time certified songs ranking. Leading the way in a very distant first place among Carey's major wins is "All I Want for Christmas Is You." This past December, that track was advanced to 16-times platinum, meaning it has moved 16 million equivalent units in the U.S. alone. The holiday smash is currently tied with "God's Plan" by Drake and "Goosebumps" by Travis Scott as one of the seventh most-certified tunes in American history. Carey released "We Belong Together" in March 2005 as the second single from The Emancipation of Mimi, which wouldn't arrive for another month. By that point, "It's Like That" — her collaboration with Jermaine Dupri and Fatman Scoop — had already returned her to the top 20 on the Hot 100, but its follow-up would prove to be much bigger. "We Belong Together" shot straight to No. 1 on the most important songs tally in America, becoming her sixteenth career leader. It held onto the throne for 14 nonconsecutive frames during its lifetime, and the tune effectively put her back on top and reestablished her as a pop superstar. As "We Belong Together" earns its seventh platinum plaque, The Emancipation of Mimi – the album on which it's featured – also becomes a bestseller once again, albeit in a different way. Carey recently released a twentieth anniversary edition of the beloved project, and as of the time of writing, it sits at No. 18 on the iTunes Top Albums list as fans rush to purchase the newly reissued collection.
Forbes
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Post Malone's First Country Hit Has Proved To Be A Career-Defining Smash
Post Malone fills two spots on the Hot 100 this week, and both of his wins share a common thread: they're collaborations with Morgan Wallen. His pair of wins with the superstar came to him fairly early in his rise in a genre that was unfamiliar to him until about a year ago. Impressively, the bigger of the two singles is also the older, yet it seems Americans aren't tired of the behemoth tune. "I Had Some Help" has now spent 53 weeks on the Hot 100. With just one more frame on the ranking — which measures the most consumed tracks in the U.S. by blending radio airplay, sales, and streaming — it ties as Malone's second-longest-charting tune ever. As it hits that number, the Wallen collaboration matches "Sunflower," his hit with Swae Lee. The first of Malone's two Wallen duets will almost surely break that match soon. The single is still holding at No. 13 , which means it is unlikely to fall off the Hot 100 anytime soon. Just last week, "I Had Some Help" was on the same level as "Better Now," which has now become Malone's third-longest-running Hot 100 success. "Better Now" keeps in that position while "I Had Some Help" moves ahead. "I Had Some Help" will need to remain on the Hot 100 for about two more months before it catches up to Malone's longest-running hit, "Circles.' That tune, which has ranked as his longest-running smash on the tally for years now, spent 61 weeks on the list beginning in September 2019. That pop cut was largely sustained by radio airplay, and spent three weeks at No. 1. "I Had Some Help" currently ranks more than 10 spaces above Malone's most recent Hot 100 entry, "I Ain't Coming Back." That second collaboration with Wallen is featured on the latter star's new album, I'm the Problem, while "I Had Some Help" led Malone's first country full-length, F-1 Trillion. Amazingly, "I Had Some Help" isn't only performing well on the Hot 100. It also resides in the top 10 on the Adult Contemporary, Country Streaming Songs, and Hot Country Songs charts. It continues to climb and remains inside the top 20 on both the Streaming Songs and Radio Songs rankings as well.
