Kenny Vance

Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg, December 9, 1943) 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.

Vance is also known for discovering and working with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the two men who later became Steely Dan; Vance produced the first album the two worked on together, the soundtrack for the 1971 film You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat. He was also musical director for the Saturday Night Live band from 1980 to 1981.

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. He then formed another group and auditioned for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who signed them to United Artists Records, and named the group Binky Jones and the Americans, which they tweaked to 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's musical style evoked nostalgia for 1950s rock and roll and doo wop. The group was the opening act for not only the Beatles' first US performance, in Washington, D.C., but also for the Rolling Stones at Carnegie Hall, the final stop on the Rolling Stones' tour.: 20 They also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. They had many other hit singles and an album, Capture the Moment, in the 1960s, blending doo wop harmonies with contemporary sounds. In 1969, they self-produced the album Sands of Time, featuring songs originated by the Drifters ("This Magic Moment") and the Ronettes ("Walkin' in the Rain"). Both songs hit the Top 40 singles chart. They also started their own publishing and production company, JATA Enterprises.: 20 Their last release was in 1971, and the group broke up in 1974.

Vance performed as a vocalist on every record by Jay and the Americans made during their original run, from 1961 to 1971. In 2017, "Come a Little Bit Closer", a hit for Jay and the Americans in 1964,: 20 was featured in the soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The soundtrack album went gold in the U.S. and sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.