Kenny Laguna

Kenny Laguna
Born	Greenwich Village, New York City, New York
Genres	Rock and roll
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, music producer
Associated acts	Joan Jett

Kenneth Benjamin "Kenny" Laguna is an American songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Joan Jett.

Laguna was born in Greenwich Village, New York City, and started playing piano at high school dances from the age of twelve. 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 UK by studio musicians calling themselves Mr. Bloe, and reached #2 on the UK singles chart in 1970; the original version was reissued, credited to Cool Heat, and scraped into the US chart. Groovin' with Mr Bloe was also the theme song for Dick Clark's American Bandstand.[1] 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.

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