Kenny Vance on The
Vinny Vella Show, Recorded
August 15th,
2013
Kenny Vance (From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
(born
December 9, 1943, in
Brooklyn as
Kenneth Rosenberg)
is an
American singer, songwriter, and music producer who was an original member of
Jay and the Americans. His career spans from the
1950s to today, with projects ranging from starting doo-wop groups to music supervising to creating solo albums.
Vance grew up hanging around the famous
Brill Building, the
Tin Pan Alley song machine, and started his first vocal group, the
Harbor Lites, at 15. The group recorded two
singles for Ivy
Records in
1959. He then formed another group and auditioned for
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who signed them to
United Artists Records, and named the group Jay and the Americans.
Jay and the Americans released fifteen albums, and their first hit was "
She Cried," which was released in 1962. The group was the opening act for not only
The Beatles' first US performance, but also for
The Rolling Stones' first US performance. They also appeared on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. They had many other hit singles in the 60s, and started their own publishing and production company, JATA Enterprises.
In
1967, the songwriting duo of
Walter Becker and
Donald Fagen came to the Brill Building to sell their songs, and ended up knocking on Vance's door. Vance liked what he heard, and offered to manage them. The duo arranged horn and string sections for Jay and the Americans and toured with them as bassist and keyboardist, eventually recording demos and masters with Vance in
1969. He continued to work with
Becker &
Fagen until
1971, when he brought one of their songs ("I
Mean to
Shine") to
Richard Perry, who then brought it to
Barbra Streisand and recorded it on
Barbra Joan Streisand. They were hired as songwriters at
ABC Dunhill Records, and released their first
Steely Dan album,
Can't Buy a Thrill, in
1972. They went on to become one of the best selling and critically acclaimed bands of the
1970s.
After this, Vance began doing session work, producing, and writing music for movies. He was the music supervisor for the movies
Eddie and the Cruisers,
Animal House, and
American Hot Wax with
Tim McIntire,
Jay Leno, and
Fran Drescher. He wrote the theme for the score, produced the soundtrack album (which made the
Top 40), and appeared in the movie as "
Professor La
Plano" to lead his fictional group, the Planotones, in a performance of "
Rock and Roll Is
Here to Stay".
The Animal House soundtrack also made the charts and sold over 1 million copies and
Eddie and the
Cruiser Soundtrack Album sold triple
Platinum. He contributed music for many other films and
TV shows, and after being a guest singer on
Saturday Night Live in
1977, became the musical director in 1980-1981. He booked
Aretha Franklin and
Prince, as well as
James Brown, who on his only appearance on the show performed for far longer than his allotted time, forcing the producers to go to a commercial while he was still singing.
In
1992, Vance started a doo wop group, the re-formed (no longer fictional)
Kenny Vance and The Planotones from American Hot Wax. They released two albums "
Teenage Jazz" and "
Looking for an Echo", and then created the whole soundtrack for the
1999 film Looking For an
Echo, for which Vance was also the musical director and the singing voice of
Armand Assante. Since then the group has released five more albums, "
Lover's Island",
Countdown to
Love", "
Dancing and
Romancing", "
Oceans of Time", and their holiday album, "Mr.
Santa". They continue to perform to audiences nationwide and on
PBS.
- published: 24 Aug 2013
- views: 7106