Hang On Sloopy
(5-27-25) On Tuesday, May 27, Rick Derringer’s (he was born Richard Dean Zehringer) publicist announced the legendary musician had died at the age of 77.
Born at Gibbons Hospital in Celina, Ohio, he lived in Ft. Recovery until the 8th grade and then would relocate with his family to Union City, Indiana.
Derringer was 17 when he scored his first chart-topping hit, “Hang On, Sloopy,” with the McCoys in the summer of 1965. The song displaced “Yesterday,” by the Beatles at the top of the pop charts.
The McCoys started in Union City in 1962 featuring lead guitar player Rick Zehringer, his brother Randy and bass player Dennis Kelly and the group would later add Ron Brandon, of Greenville, as keyboard player.
The band originally was known as The Rick-Z Trio and played at Saturday night dances at the old armory in Greenville. Later the band added an organ player and became known as The Rick-Z Combo. Later still, the group played in Dayton and surrounding areas as Rick and the Raiders.
One of the top guitarist and producers in rock music…he worked with greats such as Barbara Streisand, Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, and Kiss. He performed and toured with a member of the band that Hang on Sloopy knocked off the top of the chart – Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band.
As a solo artist his hit song Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo.
Mercer County Outlook 