Kenny Nolan

Kenneth "Kenny" Nolan (born September 30, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles.

Kenny Nolan
Born	(1949-09-30) September 30, 1949 (age 75) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop, adult contemporary, soft rock
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals, keyboards, guitar, piano
Years active	1971–present
Labels	20th Century, Casablanca

He is best remembered for the 1976–77 song "I Like Dreamin'", which he wrote and performed; it reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Easy Listening chart.^[1] He wrote "Swing Your Daddy", which became a 1975 hit for Jim Gilstrap, reaching No.4 in the UK Singles Chart and No.10 on the American Billboard Black Music chart of that year.

Nolan also co-wrote several hits with Bob Crewe, including Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You" and Labelle's "Lady Marmalade."^[2] Both of these hit songs hit #1 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 Chart in March of 1975. Of note, "My Eyes Adored You" hit #1 on March 22, 1975^[3] and the very next week, "Lady Marmalade" hit #1 on March 29, 1975.^[4] This marked one of the few times in chart history when the same songwriter(s) had back-to-back hits at #1 (John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles, Holland-Dozier-Holland of Motown fame, and The Bee Gees have accomplished this feat).^[5]

Life and career

At the age of 13 he won a scholarship to the University of Southern California for Musical composition, but dropped out after six months, bored with the conventional regimen. Four years later, a scholarship to Chouinard went the same way, and Nolan decided to send songs in to any musician he thought might be suitable. It brought him to the attention of both veteran songwriter Bob Crewe and entrepreneur Wes Farrell, both of whom harnessed the then youngster's talent.

As house producer at Farrell's Chelsea record label, Nolan wrote and/or produced a string of successful singles for the label, including Jim Gilstrap's "Swing Your Daddy" and "Take Your Daddy for a Ride"; Dee Clark's "Ride a Wild Horse"; and Linda Carr's "High Wire". With Crewe, meanwhile, he co-wrote some of the era's biggest successes. They included Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes' "Get Dancin'", Labelle's "Lady Marmalade", and Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You". He wrote the song "Flirtin'" for the 1971 The Donny Osmond Album, as well as the final top 40 hit for Tavares in 1982, entitled "A Penny for Your Thoughts".

Nolan also had ambition to perform – he supplied the falsetto that dominated "Get Dancin'" – and, after a short tenure with Firefly, he moved onto the studio group The Eleventh Hour. Produced by Crewe, the band scored two minor hits in the United States with "So Good" (1974) and the album, Hollywood Hot (1976).

In 1976, Nolan decided to record his own version of a song he had been commissioned to write by another. "I Like Dreamin'" was released by the Eleventh Hour's label, 20th Century, and in early November it finally entered the U.S. chart, to begin a three-month crawl to its peak at No. 3.

Nolan followed it the spring after with the top 20 hit "Love's Grown Deep", taken from his self-titled album; he was named Number One New Pop Singles Artist of 1977 by Billboard magazine. "My Eyes Get Blurry" was the next single, from Nolan's second album, 1978's A Song Between Us. Night Miracles followed two years later, bringing a new single, "Us and Love (We Go Together)", to the mid-reaches of the chart in early 1980, but it failed to give Nolan any further major success.

He continued to record, however, signing to MCA and releasing Head to Toe in 1982. That album produced two singles, "Love Song" and "Soft Rock Hard Love", but further commercial success as a recording artist eluded him. However, he continued to write songs that became hits for other artists, including "Shoot 'Em Up Movies", which became a top ten R&B hit for soul/boogie band the Deele in 1988.

In the 1990s, he wrote "Masterpiece" which became a crossover hit for another soul band, Atlantic Starr.

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions					Album
		US [6]	US AC [7]	AUS [8]	CAN [9]	CAN AC [10]
1976	"I Like Dreamin'"	3	4	16	3	1	Kenny Nolan
1977	"Love's Grown Deep"	20	3	—	20	1
	"My Eyes Get Blurry"	97	42	—	—	—
1980	"Us and Love (We Go Together)"	44	36	—	—	—	Night Miracles
1982	"Love Song"	—	—	—	—	—	Head to Toe
	"Soft Rock Hard Love"	—	—	—	—	—