Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg, December 9, 1943)[1] is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer who was a founding 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.
Early career
Born in Brooklyn, 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. An early single, "Is That Too Much To Ask", experienced local popularity due to radio promotion by disc jockey Cousin Brucie.[citation needed] 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.[2]
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.[9] Vance liked what he heard, and offered to manage and produce them.[10][2] The duo arranged horn and string sections for Jay and the Americans recordings[2] and toured with them as bassist and keyboardist.[10] Vance produced the soundtrack album for the movie You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat for Becker and Fagen in 1971.[11][2] 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. In Steely Dan FAQ: All That's Left to Know About This Elusive Band, Anthony Robustelli wrote, "For all intents and purposes, Vance should be credited as the man who discovered the core of Steely Dan."[2]: 17–18
Production, film and television
After this, Vance began doing session work and producing, including albums by Toni Basil, Danny O'Keefe (American Roulette), and Diane Keaton. He released a solo album, Vance 32, on Atlantic Records in 1975.[9] He was the music supervisor for the movies Eddie and the Cruisers, Animal House (which also featured an uncredited Robert Cray as bass player with fictional group, Otis Day and the Knights) 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 one million copies and the soundtrack album of Eddie and the Cruisers, initially a flop as a movie, went triple platinum when the movie became a surprise cult hit.[12] Vance also produced[13] and commissioned the soundtrack for The Warriors, curating a diverse lineup of artists including Arnold McCuller, Barry De Vorzon, and backup vocals from a then-unknown Luther Vandross.[14]
Vance contributed music for many other films and TV shows. He was a guest vocalist on Saturday Night Live in 1977 (singing a live version of his current single "The Performer"), and became the program's musical director in 1980–1981,[15] booking the show's musical acts.[16] 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.[17] In addition to his appearance in American Hot Wax, Vance has also played bit parts in films including Eddie and the Cruisers, Billy Bathgate, and Hurlyburly. He also appeared in six Woody Allen films.[9]
1990s and later
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 eight more albums, including "Lovers Island", Countdown to Love", "Dancing and Romancing", "Oceans of Time", and their holiday album, "Mr. Santa".[18] They continue to perform to audiences nationwide and on PBS.
Kenny Vance and the Planotones released a new album, "For Your Love", in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vance reunited with members of the original Planotones to record "Brave Companions", a song he wrote in tribute to first responders, with proceeds donated to the First Responders Children's Foundation.[13] He also directed a documentary, Heart & Soul, about music performers of the doo wop era. Doc NYC selected the film for its "Only In New York" program.[24]
Vance has received recognition for his role in the history of doo wop and music. Dion DiMucci told Elmore Magazine in 2008, "Kenny Vance...sings like there's a 19-year-old angel inside of him. ... Kenny Vance expresses the heart and soul of doo wop."[25] In 2009, Brooklyn Paper called Vance the "Dylan of Doo-Wop".[26] Radio disc jockey Jerry Blavat said in 2011 that Vance has "the ability to take a song, which was a hit in the '50s or early '60s and with his style make it fashionable for a new audience that hears it in a different way."[27]
