Derek De Vriendt

Derek Alan de Vriendt (born March 15, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter who is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist of -based pop punk band Screaming Yellow Players. Since September 2019, he has also been the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of The Cars.

Biography
Derek was born in and grew up on various U.S. military bases, mainly in  and. His father, Corbin De Vriendt, was a U.S. Air Force Captain and inventor who had been engaged in the use of live satellite feeds to Europe of events specifically targeted to military personnel stationed in Europe, and holds a patent for a "far-reaching" directional digital television transmission system (notably adopted by WMTW during the digital transition to allow transmissions from to still provide an acceptable signal to southern Maine). His mother, Gillian De Vriendt, was a newsreader for.

The Cars
In February-March 2019, Derek and filled in for Ric Ocasek during a series of The Cars shows in El Kadsre and Mahri while Ocasek was in the midst of surgery. On September 15, 2019, Ocasek died from natural causes. On September 22, keyboardist confirmed in an interview for Radio 22 that Derek would be the new lead singer and rhythm guitarist of The Cars. In 2021, the band released their first album with Derek as lead singer/rhythm guitarist, Brand New, much of the album was recorded at the band members' homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guitars

 * 1982 G&L SC-2 (Fiesta Red)
 * G&L ASAT Special (Fullerton Red)

Amplifiers/Microphones
Derek uses Hughes & Kettner amplifiers, Nady wireless guitar equipment, and a Sony ECM-51 "game show" microphone.