"Opening America's eyes to the blue-eyed soul music of Detroit's rock ‘n' roll scene, the legendary Mitch Ryder took his gritty and almost swing-based rock ‘n' roll style straight to the bank, capitalizing on the 1960s to exert his feel-good frat rock music with his longtime band, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels.Before he was the heart and soul of Motor City rock ‘n' roll, Mitch Ryder was known as William Levise, Jr., growing up in the grungy industrial town of Detroit, Michigan's Hamtramck area. Encompassing a knack for blue-eyed soul, Ryder embarked upon a music career in his teen years as part of a local black quartet the Peps, but distanced himself from the group after suffering harsh racial harassment. Leaving the Peps to form his own band Billy Lee and the Rivieras, Ryder helped light the fuse under the group, who eventually caught the eye of producer Bob Crewe. Christening the rocker with the alias Mitch Ryder after blindly selecting a name in a phonebook, Crewe assembled the Detroit Wheels, and thereafter Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels zoomed away into mainstream success. The group's first hit was 1966's ""Jenny Take a Ride,"" a combination of Little Richard's ""Jenny Jenny"" and Chuck Willis' ""C.C. Rider."" The song marked the group's Top Ten domination, setting a precedent for hits to come.After smash singles ""Devil with a Blue Dress On"" and ""Sock It to Me Baby!"" got airtime, Ryder left his band to go solo. The decision turned out to be ill-advised, and after teaming up with Booker T. and the MG's for a short time Ryder was forced into retirement in 1973 after suffering severe throat problems. Eventually, however, Mitch Ryder made a comeback, resurfacing for 1978's How I Spent My Vacation and continuing to pump out hits through the early ‘90s."