Ritchie Cordell

Ritchie Cordell (born Richard Joel Rosenblatt, March 10, 1943 – April 13, 2004) was an American songwriter, singer and record producer. He wrote and produced several hits for Tommy James and The Shondells, including "I Think We're Alone Now" (later also recorded by Tiffany and Girls Aloud) and "Mony Mony" (later also recorded by Billy Idol), and co-produced Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'n' Roll.

Rosenblatt was born in Brooklyn, New York, and started singing and playing guitar in his teens. In 1961, he was introduced to song plugger Sid Prosen, who in turn introduced him to young songwriter Paul Simon, then using the pseudonym Jerry Landis. Rosenblatt began using the name Ritchie Cordell, initially as a performer, and "Landis" wrote the song "Tick Tock" which became Cordell's first single, released on the Rori label in 1962. Cordell then started writing his own material, including his single "Georgiana" which was arranged and produced by Landis.

He worked for a time at Kama Sutra Records, but had limited success as either a writer or performer before joining Roulette Records as a staff songwriter in 1966. At Roulette, he began working with Tommy James and the Shondells, who had just had their first hit, "Hanky Panky". With Sal Trimachi, Cordell co-wrote their follow-up record, "Say I Am (What I Am)"; as on many of the group's Roulette recordings, the writing credit was shared with record company boss Morris Levy. As well as writing "I Think We're Alone Now" (which reached #4 on the US Hot 100 in 1967) and co-writing "Mony Mony" (#3 in 1968, and #1 in the UK), Cordell also wrote several lesser hits for the group.

...
Wikipedia