Kenneth "Kenny" Nolan (born September 30, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. 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 Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

chart. 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 Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

with

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons. As a songw ...

, including

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer and occasional actor, best known as the frontman (lead singer) of The Four Seasons (band), the Four Seasons. He is known for ...

's "

My Eyes Adored You "My Eyes Adored You" is a 1974 song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons (band), The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the Motown label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to l ...

" and

Labelle Labelle was an American funk rock band that originated out of the Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the area around ...

's "

Lady Marmalade "Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan that is famous for the French refrain of "''Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir''?", which is a sexual proposition that translates into English as: "''Do you want to sleep with m ...

." 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 and the very next week, "Lady Marmalade" hit #1 on March 29, 1975. This marked one of the few times in chart history when the same songwriter(s) had back-to-back hits at #1 (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

of The

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, Holland-Dozier-Holland of

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

fame, and

The Bee Gees ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

have accomplished this feat).

Life and career

At the age of 13 he won a scholarship to the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

for

Musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...

, 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 Wesley Donald Farrell (December 21, 1939 – February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Farrell was born in New York, United States. Farrell's catalogue incl ...

, 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 Dee Clark (November 7, 1938 – December 7, 1990) was an American soul singer and songwriter best known for a string of R&B and pop hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the song " Raindrops", which became a million-seller in the Uni ...

'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'",

's "

", and Frankie Valli's "

". 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 Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

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 The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...

, 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 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 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 The Deele (pronounced like "deal") is an American band from Cincinnati, Ohio who achieved success in the 1980s with such hit singles as "Body Talk (The Deele song), Body Talk" and "Two Occasions". When the group began recording in the early 1980 ...

in 1988. In the 1990s, he wrote "

Masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

" which became a crossover hit for another

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

band, Atlantic Starr.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Kenny 1949 births Living people American male singer-songwriters 20th Century Fox Records artists Casablanca Records artists USC Thornton School of Music alumni Singers from Los Angeles 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from California