Derek St. Holmes

Known primarily as the rhythm guitarist and vocalist on Ted Nugent’s early (and best) solo albums, Derek St. Holmes has also subsequently lent his talents to recordings by other artists and by the dawn of the 21st century, finally launched his own solo career.

Hailing from a small city not far from Detroit (Riverview, MI) Derek became originally interested in music via his mother, who sang regularly in a church choir. Not long after Derek picked up guitar and began to sing himself and was influenced by the usual Brit-rock suspects of the ’60’s (the Rolling Stones, the Beatles), but also soul and blues artists (Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King).

By the early ’70 Derek was fronting a local Michigan rock outfit called Scott, who opened up several shows for Ted Nugent. Ted’s singer at the time left the Motor City Madman high and dry and several auditions were arranged with Derek all of which proved unfruitful. Just s Derek about to relocate to the West Coast to try his luck there, a final audition was arranged and this, Derek and Ted decided to unite.