Kenny Vance

Kenny Vance (born December 9, 1943, in Brooklyn as Kenneth Rosenberg) is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer who was an original 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 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.

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