Background
He was born in Greenwich Village, New York City, and started playing piano at high school dances from the age of twelve.
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Kenny Laguna
Edit Profileproducer songwriter record producer
Career
In the late 1960s he worked as a songwriter and producer with Super K Productions, established at Buddah Records by producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz, writing songs for such acts as Tony Orlando, The Ohio Express and The Lemon Pipers, often in association with writers Bo Gentry, Bobby Bloom and Ritchie Cordell. Laguna played keyboards for a time with Tommy James and the Shondells, and played on their 1968 hit single "Mony Mony". He also played keyboards on the second Ohio Express album, Yummy Yummy.
Some other credits that Kenny Laguna can be seen on include playing on and singing backgrounds for Simon Says, Goody Goody Gumdrops, Indian Give, and most of the 1910 Fruitgum Company"s record 1 2 3 Red Light, playing on "Gimmee Gimmee Good Lovin" by the Crazy Elephant, The Lemon Pipers" "Green Tambourine", as well as "This Magic Moment" and "Walkin" in the Rain" by Jay and the Americans.
One of his most successful writing credits was for "Groovin" With Mr Bloe", originally a throwaway B-side for Tony Orlando"s group Wind. The tune was covered in the United Kingdom by studio musicians calling themselves Mr.
Bloe, and reached #2 on the United Kingdom singles chart in 1970. The original version was reissued, credited to Cool Heat, and scraped into the United States chart.
Laguna also worked on the soundtrack of the Andy Warhol film Lonesome Cowboys, and worked as a producer in Los Angeles with singers Darlene Love and Bill Medley, formerly of The Righteous Brothers.
He played or sang on more than 50 Billboard Top 40 hits by 1972. In the mid 1970s he worked for a time in Britain, and produced a series of albums with the Steve Gibbons Band, as well as their United Kingdom hit single "Tulane", a cover of a Chuck Berry song. He also worked in Los Angeles, as a writer and producer for Beserkley Records, on songs by and for Jonathan Richman, Greg Kihn, Earth Quake and others
With Earth Quake and label boss Matthew "King" Kaufman, he recorded a version of Led Zeppelin"s "Stairway to Heaven", rewritten with the lyrics to the theme song of the television show Gilligan"s Island.
The record was issued as a single, by Little Roger and the Goosebumps, but the label was threatened with legal action by Led Zeppelin"s lawyers and copies were destroyed. lieutenant was eventually reissued in 2000 on the compilation Civil Defense Laguna Tunes.
Laguna met, and began working with, Joan Jett, shortly after the break-up of The Runaways in 1979. He established Blackheart Records with Jett in the early 1980s.
Journalist Jonathan Gross described Laguna as "Jett"s surrogate father/brother/manager/mentor/producer/schlepper/bagman, et cetera" In 1982 he also produced English band Bow Wow Wow"s hit version of "I Want Candy".
He has continued to work with Joan Jett, as performer, producer and manager, on her later albums and tours, and acted as Executive Producer on the 2010 film The Runaways, about Jett"s earlier band. On April 18, 2015, Kenny Laguna, along with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
