James Brown, Little Richard and Otis Redding; these were a few of the key artists that were the inspiration for young William Sherille Levise, Jr., better known as Mitch Ryder. The time was the early to mid-‘60s when the burgeoning teen soul singing sensation was performing in the Detroit area.
He formed his first group in high school called Tempest. And they had moderate success playing the local club scene. Ryder graduated to Billy Lee & The Rivieras, which eventually became Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. Legend has it that the band transformation came when they met songwriter and producer Bob Crewe. Crewe discovered Ryder’s stage name from a Manhattan, New York phone book and was instrumental in setting up their earliest recording sessions.
Rock n Roll song, 1966
Ryder recalls those early days in ‘60s-era Detroit. “They weren’t good for a self-contained white rock ‘n roll group,” says Ryder. “Mostly it was all about Motown. But we did have singular artists come out of Detroit. One, in particular, was Jack Scott. He appeared on Dick Clark’s show once or twice and had a couple hits. And we were fans. We listened to him on the radio. My whole experience had been in the urban setting doing R&B and blues. But the band was more rock ‘n roll and wanted to be the next Beatles. So they had their look at music and I had my look at music and they were very, very opposite. But we found a way to blend them and that created a new sound we needed to bust through. And I do believe our success in that combination and making that sound opened the door for all the groups that followed.”
“Sock it to Me, Baby,” “Devil With a Blue Dress,” “Little Latin Lupe Lu” and the Bruce Springsteen-coined “Detroit Medley”,” featuring the mash up of “C.C. Rider,” “Jenny Take a Ride” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” are, undeniably, Top 10 hits and proved the soundtrack of a generation.
The original band Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels was Jim McCarty on lead guitar, John Badanjek on drums, Joe Kubert on rhythm guitar, Mark Manko on guitar, and Jim McAllister on bass. These were the musical archetypes that took that impactful Motor City sound and burst through the sonic floodgates of radio everywhere.
“In terms of some of the hits, we did one session,” says Ryder. “And out of that one session came two Top 10 hits. And right after we did our first recording two of our boys got drafted. So, it never was after that, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. There were always people being stuck in there, taken out and stuck again. So, in my mind, we were never one of those groups that were together forever and then decided to depart. It was a situation that was manipulated by the promoter and producer Bob Crewe. He was trying to achieve one thing with me as an artist and then we were trying to stay
Devil With a Blue Dress On song, 1966
together as a group. But there was internal conflict as to what that group should be. I wanted to expand into an R&B thing, with a couple horns. Jimmy (McCarty) didn’t. He wanted to keep it pure rock ‘n roll. But those weren’t the differences that broke up the group. The differences that broke up the group were the aims and goals of Bob Crewe. And his idea, where to go with my career, was totally opposite of mine. And so, I sued to break the contract, and I lost. He ended up selling my contract to Paramount. We never had a group contract. He had a contract with The Wheels and he had a contract with me. So he was using his legal ability to manipulate the situation.”
After the dust settled from those turbulent early days, Ryder briefly reset his focus on a pseudo-offshoot of The Detroit Wheels, simply called Detroit. The self-titled Paramount/MCA release dropped in 1971 and contained a huge FM radio hit called “Rock & Roll.” The band’s original arrangement of signature guitar hooks and Ryder’s caterwauling screams took the Lou Reed-penned song to the stratosphere. However, violent and ill-fated behavior from key band members caused Ryder to exit early.
Fast forward to 2025 where the 80 year old singer-songwriter has taken all the hard knocks he’s acquired from those seminal days and has continued creating, writing and growing in amazing and exponential ways. His latest album on the Ruf Records label is entitled “With Love,” and, not only was it recorded in the Detroit area at Rustbelt Studios, but it features a stellar Detroit session lineup, 10 original songs penned by Ryder himself and production by the great Don Was.
“With Love” finds the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame and R&B Hall of Fame inductee in fine form, with a diverse concoction of everything from the Latin-flavored grooves of “Oh What a Night” and “Pass it to the Right” to the raw and rustic “Wrong Hands.” All told, Ryder has released over 30 original albums and to him, his latest ranks far above the rest.
Lili May song, 2024
“It’s in my top two for a bunch of elements,” says Ryder. “You really have to have good equipment. You start with pre-production, which is the hardest part of doing an album. The pre-production includes the songwriting, getting the melodies and structuring the chord sheets with the band. And then I get with my sound engineer and we go over everything—how we want it to sound, what instruments would work best and bringing in new sounds.”
Calling on his old friend and colleague, Don Was, the Grammy-winning producer, assembled the, primarily, Detroit-based studio band that includes first call players such as Luis Resto (keyboards); Brian “Roscoe” White (guitar); Linda Chavez (guitar); Dave McMurray (sax and flute); Jeff Canady (drums); Mahindi Masai (percussion) and Chuck Bartels (bass). “I have all the faith in the world in Don Was,” says Ryder. “We’ve been working together for decades. He’s got a great ear and a touch for talent. And he assembled for this recording some of the best talent he could find in Detroit. And if you listen to the album I’m sure you’ll agree.”
The new album “With Love” is also significant, as it is the second album Ryder has released through the German imprint Ruf Records. The singer-songwriter had parted company with a previous German label and was shopping for a replacement. The owner Thomas Ruf was recommended by a mutual promoter friend. Ryder’s team took a chance on Ruf and it has turned out to be a sound investment.
When You Were Mine song 1983
“Even though it’s a small German label, Ruf is doing his best to get this album heard and known in America,” says Ryder. “And he’s using some unusual tactics too. For example, yesterday regarding this music I did an interview with Forbes magazine. I thought that was different. But, more than anything, we need to bust into America.”
Ryder’s fervor for reconnecting with U.S. audiences after so many years is not just idle chatter. After Ryder’s initial ‘60s heyday, and the follow up years with the band “Detroit,” there was a lull where the Motor City soul man had to sort of reinvent and rediscover himself. He eventually found musical solace and salvation performing in Europe, and specifically, Germany in the late ‘70s.
“We licensed some of our material to a record company in Germany and they had great success with it,” recalls Ryder. “We did this European TV show and 130 million people got to see what we had to offer. Apparently they liked it. And they liked it enough to offer a fan base that would last for generations. The young fans we had at that time now bring their kids and their grandkids to our concerts. Once they like someone over there they stick with them through their whole career. They had a chance to do that, where in America they did not. And that’s why I have this mantra that we need to have that exposure in America somehow.”
There are decades of music that Ryder and company have created in Europe. With over 20 productions alone, albums such as “Rite of Passage,” “How I Spent My Vacation,” “Naked But Not Dead,” “Live Talkies” and “The Acquitted Idiot,” to name a few, far surpass the limited vintage catalog most U.S. and, in particular, Detroit audiences are aware of.
Many people may not also be aware that Ryder is a tiresome renaissance man. He solely wrote the auto-biography “Devils & Blue Dresses: The Wild Ride of a Rock ‘N’ Roll Legend” (Cool Titles) and received critical acclaim in 2011. He has also been diligently engaged in writing a stage play musical for many years. Ryder and his team are actively seeking university drama and literary groups to find a talented writer that can adapt the written story into a stage play.
Wrong Hands song 2024
“The play is about two men who start as youngsters together in an orphanage,” says Ryder. “They keep running into each other, and run into each other enough to realize, from their childhood years in the orphanage, what true friendship really is. And they really make an effort to make it a lifelong relationship. But woven in between are all the sub-stories and sub-plots and the different characters that come into their lives and take them away from each other, and also the characters that bring them back together again. It’s very enlightening and entertaining when you talk about the ability of humans to connect. And as you may know there is a lack of personal connection between people. I can sit here and tell you that I have a million followers, I am an influencer and I have 300,000 followers, and I’m important that way. And I have a million friends. Well, you don’t have a million friends. If you have five friends you’re pretty lucky. So I just try to bring that truth to bear.”
Mitch Ryder is not a man to sit on his laurels. He is soul in motion and is currently working on a third Ruf Records release, with an upcoming European tour in the works as well. And who knows what else he has up his sleeve? Stay tuned!
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