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 A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds". Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...

''.

Career

Kenny formed his first band whilst in high school and between then and the early 1970s, he toured the

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

circuit. In 1968, he landed his first recording contract with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, and from that point until 1977 issued a number of singles that failed to break the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

. 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. Kenny relocated to London in 1977 and it was not until the following year that he scored his first

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

with "

New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice) "New York, New York (So Good They Named It Twice)" 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. Kenny wrote the song about myth versus fact and explai ...

" (an ode to his hometown), which spent two months on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, with its parent album ''Made It Through the Rain'' going top 20 the following year. Another single on the

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

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 The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, 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 Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

by local artists

Ariel Rivera Jose Ariel Jimenez Rivera, professionally known as Ariel Rivera (born September 1, 1966), is a Filipino recording artist and actor. Rivera was born in Manila, Philippines but has since migrated with his family to Canada. He has since become ...

Xian Lim Alexander Xian Lim (born July 12, 1989) is a Filipino actor, model, singer, host, blogger, filmmaker and professional basketball player. He is best known for his roles in ''My Binondo Girl'' (2011), '' The Reunion'' (2012), ''Ina, Kapatid, Ana ...

Billy Crawford Billy Joe Ledesma Crawford (born May 16, 1982) is a Filipino actor, musician, singer, dancer, comedian and television host who released 7 studio albums and has had a number of singles, notably " Trackin'", " When You Think About Me" (a remake o ...

Sharon Cuneta Sharon Gamboa Cuneta-Pangilinan ( , ; born January 6, 1966) is a Filipino actress, singer, television host, and socialite. Regarded as one of the most successful and highest-earning individuals in the Philippine entertainment industry, she has ...

and DK Tijam. "Fantasy" was also covered by

Regine Velasquez Regina Encarnacion Ansong Velasquez ( ; born April 22, 1970) is a Filipina singer, actress, and record producer. She is considered one of the most influential figures in Philippine popular culture and is known for her vocal range and beltin ...

. Kenny's composition "I Could Be So Good for You" was recorded by

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of the ...

for the

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

series ''

'' and became a top 10

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

single in the United Kingdom during 1980. It also gained an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

for Kenny. In a 2021 interview, he spoke about the composition and reception of the song and how he met Waterman. In 1983, he began to work with

Alan Jay Lerner Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre bot ...

on a musical adaption of ''

My Man Godfrey ''My Man Godfrey'' is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, who had been briefly married years before appearing together in the film. The screenplay for ''My Man Godfre ...

'', 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 Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

as the musical director for his show ''Spike Milligan and Friends'', which toured across Australia. In 1985, after moving to

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

, Kenny charted in the UK with another theme song, "No Man's Land", from the ITV drama series ''

Widows A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...

''. Since then, Kenny has continued to record and release music periodically. His songs have been recorded by

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

, Jack Jones,

Marion Montgomery Marion Montgomery (November 17, 1934 – July 22, 2002)

Sacha Distel Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, "Scoubidou", ...

James Last James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015), also known as Hansi, was a German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist (Last won the award for "best bassist" in Germany in each of ...

and

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) 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 ...

, who recorded a song that he co-wrote with Lynsey de Paul, called " There's No Place Like London". Other notable songs co-written by Kenny and de Paul include "Just a Little Time", the title track from de Paul's 1994 album and "Take Back Your Heartache" which appeared on Kenny's 1995 album, ''An Evening with Gerard Kenny Live''.

Selected discography

Albums

*''Made It Through the Rain'' (1979) – UK No. 19 *''Living on Music'' (1980) *''City Living'' (1981) *''The Music of Gerard Kenny'' (1984) *''All for a Dream'' (1984) *''Play Me Some Porter Please'' (1992) *''The Time Between Time'' (1994) *''An Evening with Gerard Kenny Live'' (1995) *''The Best of... The Singles'' (1998) *''Coming Home'' (2005)

Singles

*"Where Are You?" (1967) *"3 Weeks, 4 Days, 15 Hours" (1967) *"Leave It to Me" (1968) *"

" (1978) - UK No. 43 *"D-D-D-Dancing" (1979) *"Getting to Know Each Other" (1980) *"Fantasy" (1980) – UK No. 34 *"The Other Woman, The Other Man" (1984) – UK No. 69 *"No Man's Land" (1985) – UK No. 56

References

External links

Gerard Kenny's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny, Gerard 1947 births Living people American expatriates in England American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from New York (state) American pop pianists American male pianists American tenors RCA Records artists Ivor Novello Award winners 20th-century American pianists