Gary James' Interview With
Kenny Nolan



If the name Kenny Nolan sounds familiar, it should! You see, Kenny wrote and sang the hit song "I Like Dreamin'", which charted at number three on Billboard's Hot 100 and number four on the Easy Listening chart. He also wrote Disco Tex And The Sex-O-Lettes' "Get Dancin'" and Tavares' "A Penny For Your Thoughts". Along with Bob Crewe, he co-wrote Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You" and La Belle's "Lady Marmalade". He was named the Number One New Pop Single Artist of 1977 by Billboard magazine. On May 10th, 2024, Star Vista Music re-released Kenny Nolan's album, "I Like Dreamin'" to all major platforms. This marks the first time Kenny's music has been made available for streaming. And so, we spoke with Kenny Nolan about that and so much more.

Q - Kenny, I would think it's a very difficult time to be a songwriter like yourself. No one is writing the kind of songs you were writing, or maybe still are writing, and also the infrastructure to promote songs is no longer there, You must think about it every day, don't you?

A - Of course. It's part of my life. It's different and I don't think you can compare the songs being written today based on tempo and track and all the Pro Tools things going on. You can't compare the songs that were written in the '60s and '70s and '80s to today's music. It's just like digital, repeat, repeat. Do you agree with me?

Q - Yes, I do. It's one phrase being repeated over and over again. The idea of a song having a beginning, a middle and an end is not there. And melody is not there.

A - (laughs) That's true.

Q - I don't how how many of today's songs will have staying power.

A - It's time for exactly what kids are into now. See, I've been very, very happy about the fact that my catalog is still on the radio all over the world. All the songs that I've written are still here all the time. I would say that back in the mid-'70s to the '90s it was more song oriented. People spoke of love. It's not the same now. If you look at some of the songs I've written, they're still there. After I wrote "My Eyes Adored You" for Frankie Valli, which is a classic, I got a call from another artist who said, "Can you write me a calling card, something like 'My Eyes Adored You'?" I don't have to mention his name, but he did a song called "Rock Me Gently". That probably tells you who it was. So, I played him "I Like Dreamin'", and he said, "Wow! That's a great song." But somehow, someway I wound up going to New York and recording it as an artist. He didn't. That was a mistake. But, so be it. I wrote "Lady Marmalade", which is the lead song in Moulin Rouge, the musical. That song never left people's hearts unconsciously.

Q - Star Vista is now making your album, "I Like Dreamin'" available to all major platforms. Are you looking to tour behind that album?

A - Well, I tell you, I have been working on songs that are basically inspiration songs. Songs that make you feel good. Songs that say something. So, what I'm going to be doing is releasing all these new songs, some of the best songs I have ever written. They're all new. That's what I've been working on right now. I'm just compiling the titles. The fact that Star Vista released the "I Like Dreamin'" album, I thrilled. I'm very happy. There's a song on there besides "I Like Dreamin'" which was a Gold Record, a follow-up song called "Love's Grown Deep". It went to number two AC (Adult Contemporary) and in the teens in the Pop charts. And I won Billboard's Single Artist Of The Year award. So, I was quite pleased about that. And now there will be another album of mine coming out the end of this month (June, 2024) that is called "A Song Between Us". It has some beautiful songs on it. They're all original songs, but there have been covers of those songs. So, that's coming out and as I said, I'm writing a lot of new songs. Some of these songs are gorgeous. They'll get you in the heart.

Q - Do you write songs every day?

A - Pretty much so. I write when I get the inspiration. I wrote a lot of different songs for a lot of different people. I wrote "Masterpiece" for Atlantic Starr. It went to number one or two AC (Adult Contemporary). So, that was considered a wedding song. That's just a beautiful song. I basically write beautiful songs. Remember Monti Rock III?

Q - Yes. I interviewed him. (Monti Rock III)

A - I wrote his hit, "Get Dancin'".

Q - Where did the inspiration come from to write "Lady Marmalade"?

A - I'll tell you how I came up with the song, "Lady Marmalade", which was crazy. Do you remember 1973 or 1974, The Rolling Stones had a tour here (the U.S.) called "Get Your Ya Yas Out", and it was on the sides of buses. When I heard it, I jumped up and down, got high, got crazy. I loved the idea of "Get Your Ya". So, I changed the perspective of it. Gitchie, gitchie, ya ya ga ga. Gitchie, gitchie ya ya here. It was a song that Bob Crewe and I wrote. It was about a streetwalker in New Orleans. I played it for him. We took it from there and started to write a story. "He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans. Struttin' her stuff on the street. She said 'Hello, hey Joe. You wanna give it a go?' Gitchie, gitchie ya ya ga ga. Gitchie, gitchie ya ya here. Mocha chocolate, ya ya. Create Lady Marmalade." And that's what I said, "I know what this song needs. I went to the dictionary and looked up French phrases and I said this has to come in there, "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir." And we put it together and the rest is one of the major copyrights of all time. It was an amazing time.

Q - So, your contribution to that song was the lyrics and Bob Crewe's contribution was the melody, or were you guys both writing both?

A - Both. I came up with the melody mostly and I came up with the initial idea and he came in and we co-wrote the lyric together. I gotta tell you, and it's very funny. I did an album for Twentieth Century called "The Eleventh Hour". I don't know if you remember that, but it was an off-the-wall, crazy album and we wrote all the songs for that album. I was singing lead in The Eleventh Hour when I did the very first "Lady Marmalade". I sound like Franki Valli on acid. Somehow, someway, I think it was Russ Regan or it may have been Bob, took it to Epic (Records) and Allen Toussaint on the spot heard it and came back with La Belle. When I heard that, I could not believe it. Everybody who heard it said it's number one, and it was! That's how that happened.

Q - And how did "My Eyes Adored You" come to be?

A - It was originally called "Blue Eyes In Georgia" because if you go back in the '70s you'll remember "Midnight Train To Georgia", "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia", Georgia On My Mind". So, I was writing and I thought I have to write a song with Georgia in the title. I went to the library and looked up this old Blue Book Of Musicals and there I saw a title, Blue Eyes Of Georgia. So, I started to play with that. A strange thing about me is when I write, a melody comes right through. It goes that way with "I Like Dreamin'". The lyrics are there. The melody is there, which I think is amazing because a lot of people can't write melodies. So I'm going, "Blue eyes in Georgia, there the only eyes I've ever loved, my eyes in Georgia." So, I'm playing it for Frankie Valli and I said, "Check this out Frankie," and I started "Blue eyes in Georgia. They're the only eyes I ever loved, my eyes adored you". And he went, "Oh, let's try this, my eyes adored you, though I never laid a hand on you, my eyes adored you." And that's how that happened.

Q - That song really talks about a guy admiring a woman from a distance then.

A - That's exactly right.

Q - Songs like "I Like Dreamin'" and "Lady Marmalade" come pretty quickly to you, don't they? You don't agonize over them, do you?

A - No. They're quick thoughts. They come quickly, the hooks. Here's something that people probably don't know. I'm a title writer. When I hear a title in my head that I like, it comes to me in melody form as well. "Masterpiece" was the same way. The hook came first. I had the title, "Masterpiece". They just come that way.

Q - You must pretty much keep your ear to the street, don't you? I mean, if you go out to a shopping mall for instance and you hear somebody say something, you'll think to yourself, "I can write a song around that."

A - I get inspiration. These new songs that I'm writing are totally in that genre that the title comes to me and the melody is with it. It's crazy. Some of these songs are just as good as the big hits I've written before. So, I'm excited about that.

Q - When you were what, 18, you were sending out demo tapes to Wes Farrell and Bob Crewe. What songs were on those tapes? Songs that later became hits?

A - Well, here's another good story. Remember The Carpenters?

Q - Sure.

A - Okay. Well, I went up and saw their head guy and A&M Records. He ran The Carpenters' publishing. This was around the time all those great Cher records were out, "Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves." I said, "I want to play you something," and I brought out my guitar and played him a song called "Idaho". He stood up. He said, "Don't play anymore. This is a smash hit song. You know who's downstairs? You know who Bobby Darin is?" I said, "Of course I know who Bobby Darin is." He said his producer is down there with him, Bob Crewe. I will say that because of The Carpenters' publishing guy, Bob Crewe and I got together. Bobby wasn't there, but Bob was there. He heard the first demo I made on guitar and vocal. He said, "I love this song. I want to play it for Bobby Darin." About three or four weeks later, Bobby died. He died of a heart attack. But that was the catalyst that put me together with (Bob) Crewe. When we got together, it started the whole thing.

Q - As talented as you are, your success I would say is due in large part to being heard at the right time at the right place with the right material. What do we call that? Fate? Luck? How can someone else ever hope to duplicate what you accomplished in your lifetime?

A - I'm not sure. There have been people. Lennon and McCartney are the only others beside Bob Crewe and myself that replaced our number one records with our other number one record, which was "Lady Marmalade" and "My Eyes Adored You". I don't know. We just hit it off. He understood where I was coming from. I understood what his talents were. We changed the music. We changed the music world actually.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

The views and opinions expressed by individuals interviewed for this web site are the sole responsibility of the individual making the comment and / or appearing in interviews and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone associated with the website ClassicBands.com.