The Detroit Wheels
The Detroit Wheels | |
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Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as |
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| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1964–1967 |
| Labels | |
| Past members | See members section. |
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 band had a number of top twenty hits in the mid-1960s before lead singer Ryder was enticed away by Bob Crewe with offers of a solo career, after which the group quickly dissolved. Two of its former members, Jim McCarty and Johnny "Bee" Badanjek, later reunited to establish the nucleus of a new band called The Rockets, after McCarty found some fame with the hard rock outfit Cactus. After Ryder's solo effort failed, he formed a "spin-off" called The Band Detroit, which had one album with a cult following.