RIP guitarist and producer Rick Derringer

Rick Derringer is gone. And he was just 77.

If you’re unfamiliar with Rick’s resume, he began his career with a band called The McCoys, who had a hit in the 60s called “Hang on Sloopy. He also worked as a Los Angeles session musician before achieving a hit with this song in 1973 when it was a including on his All American Boy album. (He was part of Johnny Winter’s band when Winter recorded the original version–which Derringer wrote–in 1970.) It was his only Top 40 hit, but it’s still a staple of classic rock radio.

Derringer kept getting studio work with gigs ranging from Steely Dan to Barbra Streisand to Meat Loaf to Cyndi Lauper. Along with playing with Johnny Winter, he also gigged with brother Edgar. When Van Halen was on the ascent, Derringer opened some of their shows.

But here’s even better hits of trivia:

1. Derringer was the producer for a lot of Weird Al’s albums.
2. He wrote the “Real American” theme song for Hulk Hogan. That song was also used by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump as campaign songs.
3. In the 80s, he had a job creating advertising jingles.
4. He was a MAGA man and appeared on Alex Jones’ Infowars program several times.

Derringer died on Monday (May 26) in Florida. No cause of death was given.