Kenny Laguna

Kenny Laguna is a long time member of the music community, as performer, songwriter, and producer. His body of work spans many genres, demonstrating his versatility and ability to create artist appropriate music. Through his multi-facetted talent, his style is always apparent.

Kenny started his career as a performer, having hits with music greats such as The Ohio Express and The Lemon Pipers. At sixteen, he was producing Bill Medley and churning out Bubblegum hits. During his sessions with Bill Medley, he met and began working with Darlene Love, Phil Spectors legendary lead voice ("Leader of the Pack" and the Lethal Weapon movie series). He went on to produce the soundtrack to an Andy Warhol movie called Lonesome Cowboys. He was a member of Tommy James and the Shondels as the keyboard player and background singer. Kenny produced Jay and the Americans, Tony Orlando, and Edwin Star, as well as for The Who's record label in London.

In the late seventies, he wrote and produced new wave punk hits for the legendary Beserkley Record Label with artists such as Jonathan Richmond and Greg Kihn. Kenny was asked to produce Bow Wow Wow. The outcome of these sessions was a hit called "I Want Candy". Around the same time, he began working with Joan Jett. This collaboration marked the beginning of a long-standing partnership between Kenny and Joan. He has been with Joan from the start as producer, co-collaborator, and musician. He has worked with Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill (the riot-girl band) as well as a project called Evil Stig. For this project Joan Jett took the role of Lead singer for the band The Gits, who lost their own lead singer to rape and murder. The murder was unsolved, thus Evil Stig was born, a CD from which proceeds would go to the investigation to find Mia Zapata's murder. Mia Zapata's words live on through Evil Stig.

Kenny Laguna's vast career can not merely be summed by this small collection of words. The diversity and great expanse of his body of work is well documented as well as his acute understanding of music and the artists he produces. He is a true survivor of a business that claims many musical souls without mercy. This survival is based on his versatility and talent, which he poignantly demonstrates on every note he produces.