Sloopy Hang On

Written by the songwriters Bert Berns and Wes Farrell, “Hang On Sloopy” was originally recorded by the R&B group The Vibrations as “My Girl Sloopy” in 1964,  The name “Sloopy” most likely came from Dorothy Sloop, who was a jazz singer from Steubenville, Ohio. Sloop, who died in 1998 at age 85, performed in the New Orleans area using the name “Sloopy.”  The McCoys began as the Rick Z Combo (named after lead guitarist Rick Zehringer, who later became Rick Derringer) in Union City, Indiana. They developed a following playing at Forest Park Plaza in Dayton, Ohio. They later became Rick And The Raiders, a group led by guitarist and lead singer Derringer. In 1965, Rick And The Raiders played a Dayton, Ohio concert as the backup band for The Strangeloves, who were a group of producers who wrote the song “I Want Candy” and made up a group for it. In a strange and brilliant marketing move, The Strangeloves claimed they were from Australia and said they were shepherds who got rich by crossbreeding sheep. The Strangeloves – Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer – arranged a recording session with Rick And The Raiders, who changed their name to The McCoys (after a Ventures song), and had them record a version of “My Girl Sloopy” as “Hang On Sloopy.” he Strangeloves planned to record this song as the follow-up to their hit “I Want Candy,” and began performing it on their tour. Another group on that tour, The Dave Clark Five, hear them doing the song and acquired a taste for Sloopy, realizing it could be a big hit. Dave Clark taped The Strangeloves performing the song and planned to record it with his group when they got back to England. The Strangeloves were in a tough spot because “Candy” was still climbing the charts, and they didn’t want to release another single until it was on its way down.  Lucky for The Strangeloves, group member Bob Feldman was afraid to fly, and on their drive back to New York, they stopped in Ohio and played the gig in Dayton where they met Rick And The Raiders, which was led by the 16-year-old Zehringer. The Strangeloves convinced the Raiders’ parents to let them take the boys to New York (with Zehringer’s parents along for the ride), where they sang over the already-recorded tracks. Said Derringer: “They gave us a small record player and a copy of the musical track and told us exactly what they wanted us to sing. We went out into the park for a few days, practiced singing it, and put the vocal on. They jumped up and down in the control room and yelled, ‘Number One!’ And a few weeks later, it was.”