Mitch Ryder | |
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 Ryder performing in Germany in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Sherille Levise Jr. |
| Born | February 26, 1945 Hamtramck, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1962–present |
| Website | mitchryder |
William Sherille Levise Jr. (born February 26, 1945), known professionally as Mitch Ryder, is an American rock singer who has recorded more than 25 albums over more than four decades. [1]
Ryder was born on February 26, 1945, in Hamtramck, Michigan. [2] He spent his high school years in Warren, Michigan, a suburb north of Detroit. [3] He formed his first band, Tempest, when he was in high school, and the group gained some notice playing at a Detroit soul music club called The Village. [4] Ryder next appeared fronting a band named Billy Lee & The Rivieras, which had limited success until they met songwriter / record producer Bob Crewe. [4] He selected his stage name when he saw "Mitch Ryder" in the Manhattan telephone directory and renamed the group Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. [5] They recorded several hit records for his DynoVoice Records and New Voice labels in the mid to late 1960s, most notably 1966's "Devil with a Blue Dress On", their highest-charting single at number four, as well as "Jenny Take a Ride!" which reached number 10 in 1965, and "Sock It to Me, Baby!", a number six hit in 1967. [6] The Detroit Wheels were John Badanjek on drums, Mark Manko on lead guitar, Joe Kubert (not to be confused with the comic book illustrator Joe Kubert) on rhythm guitar, Jim McCarty (not to be confused with the Yardbirds drummer of the same name) on lead guitar and Jim McAllister on bass. [6]
In December 1966, producer Bob Crewe's vision for Mitch as a blue-eyed soul singer backed by a horn band (a la Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, etc.) was put into motion. They assembled a 10 piece band of white R&B musicians: from Baltimore, Maryland; Jimmy Wilson (trumpet), Bob Shipley (sax), Jimmy Loomis (sax), Don Lehnhoff (trombone), Frank Invernizzi (organ); from Chicago, Illinois; John Siomos (drums), Bob Slawson (guitar), Carmine Riale (bass guitar); from Miami, Florida; Andy Dio (trumpet); from New York; Johnny ? (lead guitar). The band rehearsed for a month in a dance studio above Cheetah, a night club at Broadway and 53rd, [7] then hit the road as The Mitch Ryder Show in February 1967.
Ryder was the last person to perform with Otis Redding; they performed the song "Knock On Wood", on December 9, 1967, in Cleveland, Ohio, on a local TV show called Upbeat . Redding and four members of his touring band, The Bar-Kays, died in a plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin the following day, December 10, 1967.
Ryder's musical endeavors were less successful after the early 1970s. [6] Ryder's participation with the Detroit Wheels ended just as the counterculture was becoming dominant in 1968. During 1968, trumpeters Mike Thuroff and John Stefan were hired to tour with his horn section and band. Thuroff and Stefan also recorded the trumpet parts of Ryder's song, "Ring My Bell". This song was not permitted to be played by radio in many states due to its sexual innuendos. Ryder had one hit single from that period, a cover version of "What Now, My Love". In the early 70's, he formed the band Detroit. The only original Wheel in the group was the drummer John Badanjek; other members were guitarists Steve Hunter, Brett Tuggle, organist Harry Phillips, and bassist W.R. Cooke. A single album was released by this grouping, a 1971 self-titled LP issued on Paramount Records (US #176 in 1972). They had a hit with their version of the Lou Reed-penned song "Rock & Roll", which Reed liked enough to ask Steve Hunter to join his backing band. Detroit was tagged by the critics as the "American Rolling Stones".
According to AllMusic (which calls Ryder "the unsung hero" of Michigan rock and roll), Ryder withdrew from music in 1973 after experiencing throat trouble, [6] moving to Colorado with his wife and taking up writing and painting. In 1983, Ryder returned to a major label with the John Mellencamp-produced album Never Kick a Sleeping Dog. The album featured a cover version of the Prince song "When You Were Mine", which was Ryder's last score on the Billboard Hot 100.
Ryder continues to record and tour in the United States and Europe. In 2005, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. [8] In 2009, Mitch Ryder was inducted as a solo artist. [9] On February 14, 2012, Ryder released The Promise, his first US release in almost 30 years. [10]
Ryder has influenced the music of such blue collar rock music artists as Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, and also Bruce Springsteen, [6] whose version of the song "Devil With a Blue Dress" was part of the No Nukes concert album in the early 1980s. He has also been cited as a primary musical influence by Ted Nugent. [11]
In concert, Bruce Springsteen has often featured a performance informally known as "Detroit Medley" that includes the songs "Devil with a Blue Dress", "Jenny Take a Ride", "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "C.C. Rider". The medley from time to time blends in a variety of other songs, but this remains the core section, often featuring guitar solos from Springsteen and piano solos by Roy Bittan. [12]
Winona Ryder, the stage name of Winona Laura Horowitz, was inspired by Mitch Ryder's music. [13]
Ryder has been credited by guitarist Steve Hunter for giving Hunter his first real break in rock and roll and introducing Hunter to producer Bob Ezrin. [14] In 2017 he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
Ritchie Blackmore acknowledged the influence of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels on the type of beat Deep Purple chose for their version of "Kentucky Woman", the song by Neil Diamond. [15]
John J. Mellencamp, previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
Robert Clark Seger is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, breaking through with his first album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man in 1969. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the 'System' from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet (1976), recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums.
Roy J. Bittan is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthesizers. Bittan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 as a member of the E Street Band.
The Amboy Dukes were an American rock band formed in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, and later based in Detroit, Michigan. They are best known for their only hit single, "Journey to the Center of the Mind". The band's name comes from the title of a novel by Irving Shulman. In the UK, the group's records were released under the name of the American Amboy Dukes, because of the existence of a British group with the same name. The band went through a number of personnel changes during its active years, the only constant being lead guitarist and composer Ted Nugent. The band transitioned to being Nugent's backing band before he discontinued the name in 1975.
"Good Golly, Miss Molly" is a rock 'n' roll song first recorded in 1956 by American musician Little Richard and released in January 1958 as Specialty single 624, and later on Little Richard in July 1958. The song, a jump blues, was written by John Marascalco and producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell. Although it was first recorded by Little Richard, Blackwell produced another version by the Valiants, who imitated the fast first version recorded by Little Richard, not released at that time. Although the Valiants' version was released first, Little Richard had the hit, reaching No. 4. Like all his early hits, it quickly became a rock 'n' roll standard and has subsequently been recorded by hundreds of artists. The song is ranked No. 92 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Michael John "Cub" Koda was an American rock and roll musician, songwriter, and critic. Rolling Stone magazine considered him best known for writing the song "Smokin' in the Boys Room", recorded by his band Brownsville Station, which reached number 3 on the 1974 Billboard chart.
Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment.
The Electric Flag was an American blues/rock/soul band from Chicago, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks. Bloomfield formed the Electric Flag in 1967, following his stint with the Butterfield Blues Band. The band reached its peak with the 1968 release, A Long Time Comin', a fusion of rock, jazz, and R&B styles that charted well in the Billboard Pop Albums chart. Their initial recording was a soundtrack for The Trip, a movie about an LSD experience by Peter Fonda, written by Jack Nicholson and directed by Roger Corman.
Robert Stanley Crewe was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons.
Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 is a concert video and the fourth live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, released in 2006. It is a full-length recording of their performance on November 18, 1975, at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, during their Born to Run tours. It was first released as a DVD on November 14, 2005, as part of the Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition package, and then several months later on February 28, 2006, released as an audio CD. The album was reissued on vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day on April 22, 2017.
The Detroit Wheels were an American rock band, formed in Detroit in 1964. They served as Mitch Ryder's backup band from 1964 to 1967.
The Rockets were an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan founded by guitarist Jimmy McCarty and drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek, both former members of the group the Detroit Wheels.
Stephen John Hunter is an American guitarist, primarily a session player. He has worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, acquiring the moniker "The Deacon". Hunter first played with Mitch Ryder's Detroit, beginning a long association with record producer Bob Ezrin who has said Steve Hunter has contributed so much to rock music in general that he truly deserves the designation of "Guitar Hero". Steve Hunter has played some of the greatest riffs in rock history - the first solo in Aerosmith's "Train Kept A Rollin'", the acoustic intro on Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" and he wrote the intro interlude on Lou Reed's live version of "Sweet Jane" on Reed's first gold record.
Detroit was a spinoff of rock group The Detroit Wheels. This revised version of that band was formed by Mitch Ryder as a successor to The Wheels in 1970. The only original Wheel in the group was the drummer Johnny "Bee" Badanjek; other members were guitarists Steve Hunter and Brett Tuggle, organist Harry Phillips and bassists W.R. Cooke and John Sauter. A single album was released by this grouping, a 1971 self-titled LP issued on Paramount Records. They had a hit with their version of the Lou Reed - penned song "Rock & Roll", which Reed liked enough to ask Steve Hunter to join his backing band. Ryder quit the group because of voice problems in 1972, and Detroit vocalist Rusty Day took over his spot; without Ryder, the group floundered, and eventually broke up in 1974.
"Devil with a Blue Dress On" is a song written by Shorty Long and William "Mickey" Stevenson, first performed by Long and released as a single in 1964. A later version recorded by Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels in 1966 peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Johnny "Bee" Badanjek is an American musician, singer, songwriter and painter, who has been a member of various rock bands, including, The Romantics, The Detroit Wheels, Alice Cooper, and Ted Nugent.
Nassau Coliseum, New York 1980 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, released in March 2015, and was the fourth official release through the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The show was originally recorded live at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on December 31, 1980.
Olympiastadion, Helsinki, July 31, 2012 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, released on May 23, 2017. It is the thirteenth such release by the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The concert is notable for being, as of the time of its release, the longest by Springsteen and the band, at four hours and six minutes in length. The show also included a brief five-song acoustic set for fans who had arrived early; this is not included on the recording.[A] The concert is the third full-length show from the Wrecking Ball Tour to be released, following Apollo Theater 3/09/12, a rehearsal for the tour, and Ippodromo delle Capannelle, Rome 2013.
The Summit, Houston, TX December 8, 1978 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, released in September 2017, and is the 19th official release through the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The show was recorded on December 8, 1978, at The Summit in Houston, TX during the Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour.
Strictly a One-Eyed Jack is the 24th studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp. The album was released on January 21, 2022, by Republic Records. The album's cover, a portrait of Mellencamp, was painted by Mellencamp's son Speck, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently, as of 2024; the executive director of Southern Indiana Center for the Arts in Seymour, Indiana.
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