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Gerard W. Kenny (born July 8, 1947, New York City, United States) is an American singer-songwriter, based in London, England. In 1981, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme Music for his song "I Could Be So Good for You", the theme tune of the ITV series Minder .
Kenny formed his first band whilst in high school and between then and the early 1970s, he toured the club circuit. In 1968, he landed his first recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, and from that point until 1977 issued a number of singles that failed to break the charts. He also recorded for Buddah and Laurie; one of the singles on the latter titled "Happiest Man" is now collectable, selling for up to £200. [1]
Kenny relocated to London in 1977 and it was not until the following year that he scored his first hit single with "New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice)" (an ode to his hometown), which spent two months on the UK Singles Chart, with its parent album Made It Through the Rain going top 20 the following year. Another single on the RCA label, "Fantasy", proved to be another chart hit in 1980, which is from Kenny's second album Living on Music, released the same year. The album saw success in the Philippines, and its lead single "Getting to Know Each Other" became a hit on local radio stations and was featured as a soundtrack in several films and TV shows within the country. It was later covered by local artists Ariel Rivera, Xian Lim, Billy Crawford, Sharon Cuneta and DK Tijam. [2] "Fantasy" was also covered by Regine Velasquez.
Kenny's composition "I Could Be So Good for You" was recorded by Dennis Waterman for the theme tune of the ITV series Minder and became a top 10 hit single in the United Kingdom during 1980. It also gained an Ivor Novello Award for Kenny. In a 2021 interview, he spoke about the composition and reception of the song and how he met Waterman. [3]
In 1983, he began to work with Alan Jay Lerner on a musical adaption of My Man Godfrey , but Lerner died before it could be completed. However, two of the songs the pair had composed for this musical, namely "I've Been Married" and "Some People", later appeared on Kenny's album The Time Between the Time a decade later. Also this year, Kenny worked for Spike Milligan as the musical director for his show Spike Milligan and Friends, which toured across Australia. [4] [5] In 1985, after moving to WEA, Kenny charted in the UK with another theme song, "No Man's Land", from the ITV drama series Widows . [6]
Since then, Kenny has continued to record and release music periodically. His songs have been recorded by Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Jack Jones, Marion Montgomery, Sacha Distel, James Last and Shirley Bassey, who recorded a song that he co-wrote with Lynsey de Paul, called "There's No Place Like London". [7] [8] Other notable songs co-written by Kenny and de Paul include "Just a Little Time", the title track from de Paul's 1994 album [9] and "Take Back Your Heartache" which appeared on Kenny's 1995 album, An Evening with Gerard Kenny Live. [10]
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists in Britain.
Desiree Heslop, best known as Princess, is a British singer who found chart success in the mid-1980s. In the early 1980s, she worked with the group Osibisa. She is best known for her hit single "Say I'm Your Number One" which made the UK Top Ten in 1985.
Clodagh Rodgers is a retired singer and actress from Northern Ireland, best known for her hit singles including "Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight", and "Jack in the Box".
Michael Stock is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has written and/or produced 18 No. 1 records in America and the UK, over a hundred top-40 hits and is recognised as one of the most successful songwriters of all time by the Guinness Book of Records. As part of Stock Aitken Waterman in the 1980s and 90s, he holds the UK record of 11 number one records with different acts. In the UK Singles Chart he has written 54 top-ten hits including 7 number ones.
Stock Aitken Waterman are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top 40 hits, selling 40 million records and earning an estimated £60 million.
Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland and had a successful career as a two-time Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, record producer, actress and television celebrity.
Michael Moran is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer.
Michael Philip Batt, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
Norman Newell was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Dalida, Claude François, Vera Lynn, Russ Conway, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Petula Clark, Jake Thackray, Malcolm Roberts, Bobby Crush and Peter and Gordon.
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Geoffrey Love was a prolific British arranger and composer of easy listening and pop versions of film themes. He became famous in the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of Manuel and The Music of The Mountains.
Leslie David Reed was an English songwriter, arranger, musician and light-orchestra leader. His major songwriting partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason, and Geoff Stephens, although he wrote songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, Peter Callander, and Johnny Worth.
"New York, New York " is a song performed and composed by singer-songwriter Gerard Kenny in 1978. The song is an ode to his hometown and state New York, New York.
"Goldfinger" is the title song from the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. Composed by John Barry and with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the song was performed by Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing title sequences, as well as the soundtrack album release. The single release of the song gave Bassey her only Billboard Hot 100 top forty hit, peaking in the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 2 for four weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, and in the United Kingdom the single reached No. 21.
Robert Nicholas Crush is an English pianist, songwriter, actor and television presenter, originally from Leyton in East London.
John Stanley Livingstone Harris was a Scottish composer, producer, arranger, conductor, and musical director. He lived in the United States from 1972 until his death.
"Won't Somebody Dance with Me" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul in 1973, which was awarded an Ivor Novello Award in 1974. Her original version of the ballad made the UK, Irish and Dutch Top 20s, and the song was featured in Michael Winner's remake of the film The Big Sleep, The Muppet Show, and the 1970s version of the New Mickey Mouse Club.
"No, Honestly" is a song written, performed and produced by Lynsey de Paul, that was the theme for London Weekend Television's comedy series of the same name, although the single release was a slightly different version from that used for the TV theme.
"There's No Place Like London" is a song co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Gerard Kenny, and held by the British Library that was published by Lynsey de Paul Music/Chelsea Publishing Co Ltd/Arlon Music/Chappell Music. It was first recorded by Shirley Bassey backed with a 54 piece orchestra, produced by de Paul and released as a single in 1986. It was her last single for the independent British record label Towerbell Records and, unusually, the song starts with the chorus rather than a verse. As well as a stand-alone single in its own right, the song was recorded to promote the London Tourist Board. A promotional video was made that featured Bassey's daughter Sharon and grandson Luke as well as de Paul and cameo's from celebrities such as Michael Caine, Spike Milligan, David Frost and Frank Bruno. It was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, with songwriter de Paul in the audience as part of Bassey's 30th anniversary concerts. The song was well received by the U.K. press. Bassey performed "There's No Place Like London" in 1986 as part of her “Live from the Piccadilly” show as well as on the 1987 Royal Variety Performance, and ironically for her "Shirley Bassey Live" in Berlin in honour of 750 years of Berlin in 1987. She also performed the song on prime time TV on "Des O'Connor Tonight" Christmas show. The song is considered as one of Bassey's defining, signature songs and is listed as part of her essential repertoire alongside other Bassey classics.
Love Bomb is the fourth album released in 1975 by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, and her second album released on Jet Records in the UK and Polydor in Germany, Australia and Japan. In the US and Canada, it was released in January 1976 on Mercury Records. The album was recorded at the Marquee Studios, London, England, produced by de Paul and arranged by Tony Hymas, with Terry Cox playing drums, John Dean percussion, Chris Rea guitar and Frank McDonald bass. The striking sleeve cover photo of de Paul in U.S. military style clothing was taken by Brian Aris.
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