Ronald Bruce Rogers (born November 5, 1952), better known as Ron Rogers or Ronnie Rogers, is a songwriter, composer, recording artist and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His career spanned from the late 1970s until the 1990s. Ron Rogers

Life and career

Rogers was born in

Soundview Soundview is a neighborhood on the Clason Point peninsula, on the southern section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, White Plai ...

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1952. After recording a debut

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

LP entitled ''Gichy Dan’s Beachwood # 9'', co-produced with songwriter

August Darnell Thomas August Darnell Browder (born August 12, 1950), known professionally as August Darnell and under the stage name Kid Creole, is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He co-founded Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band and subsequently ...

, Rogers composed the words and music to

Don Armando Armando Bonilla Jr. (August 9, 1946 – November 16, 2002), known as Don Armando, was an American musician. He formed the Second Avenue Rhumba Band with vocalist Fonda Rae and scored a #1 hit on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with " Deputy ...

's hit " Deputy of Love", which reached number one on the Billboard U.S. dance chart. Following this initial success,

Michael Zilkha Michael Zilkha (born 1954) is a British-born entrepreneur, the co-founder of ZE Records. Early life He was born in 1954, the son of Selim Zilkha, the founder of Mothercare, one of the UK's largest retail chains (and the grandson of Khedouri Zil ...

, founder of

ZE Records ZE Records was originally a New York-based record label, started in 1978 in music, 1978 by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban. It was reestablished by Esteban in 2003. History Michael Zilkha (b. 1954) is a British-born Oxford University, Oxford ...

, began publishing Rogers' compositions through

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. The compositions were recorded on 24-track

analog recording Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which, among many possibilities, allows analog audio for later playback. Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. ...

decks by New York

session musicians Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, including Rogers multitracking on piano, drums and vocals. Among the disco-inspired recordings were: "Spooks In Space" by The Aural Exciters, written by Rogers; Gichy Dan's "Cowboys and Gangsters", written and produced by Rogers; and Rogers' own solo EP "Don't Play With My Emotions", all released on

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

/ Island Records. Rogers went on to compose, produce and perform on recordings including "The Lifeboat Party", lead track of the

Kid Creole and the Coconuts Kid Creole and the Coconuts is an American musical group created by August Darnell with Andy Hernandez and Adriana Kaegi. Its music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular a mix of disco and Latin American, Caribbean ...

album '' Doppelganger'';Kid Creole Website
/ref> "Gina Gina", from Kid Creole's ''

Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places ''Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places'' is the second album by Kid Creole and the Coconuts, released in 1981. Overview ''Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places'' is a concept album in the form of a musical travelogue. Describing the album's concept to ''The New ...

'' LP; "City Nights/ Manhattan Cafe's" and "In The Middle Of The Night", released on Rogers' own Blue Chip record label, featuring vocalist

Cory Daye Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band was a big band- and swing-influenced disco band that was formed in the Bronx, New York. The band is best known for its number-one US dance hit "Cherchez La Femme/C'est si bon," from its self-titled debut al ...

of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band; and

Elbow Bones and the Racketeers Elbow Bones and the Racketeers was an American big band-era styled male/female vocal group, created by August Darnell, and best known for their hit single "A Night in New York", written by Ron Rogers and Deborah Clarkin, and released on the EMI l ...

' UK Top 40 hit "A Night In New York", co-written with lyricist D. Clarkin and released on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

. In total Rogers has writing or production credits on over 30 recordings.Discogs
/ref>

Selected discography

* '' (#)X'' = denotes re-issues/remixes+number of releases

References

External links

Ron Rogers SONGS .COM

Ron Rogers Discography

Listen To: “The Lifeboat Party”
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Ron 1952 births Living people People from the Bronx Musicians from New York City Record producers from New York (state) ZE Records artists