Kenny Young

Kenny Young
Origin	Israel, New York,London, Oxfordshire USA
Genres	rock, pop, world, alternative
Occupations	songwriter, musician, record producer, environmentalist
Years active	1960s–present
Associated acts	Rhythms Del Mundo, Yellow Dog, Fox, Gentlemen Without Weapons, San Francisco Earthquakes, Clodagh Rogers,
Website	www.apeuk.org

Kenny Young is an American songwriter who has been an active writer, artist, and producer from 1963 to the present. His most famous song was "Under the Boardwalk," co-written with Arthur Resnick and recorded by The Drifters in 1964 and by The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and many other artists; this was followed through the 1960s by Top 40 top 10 songs for Ronnie Dove, Herman's Hermits, Reparata and the Delrons, Nancy Sinatra, Clodagh Rodgers, Fox, Yellow Dog, Rhythms Del Mundo and others.

Early life

Young grew up in the Lower East Side, Manhattan, attended R.J.J. and Seward Park High School, and City University of New York (CUNY), majored in sociology and psychology.

Career

He was a singer and songwriter in the 60s, recording under his own name, and as The Squirels, San Francisco Earthquakes, and more. He wrote songs for Reparata and the Delrons, The Drifters, Herman's Hermits, The Searchers, Ben E. King, The Shirelles, Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Dove and many others.

He wrote and produced over 25 chart records in his career. His songs included many top ten hits, including "Under the Boardwalk","Captain of Your Ship", "Arizona" and the Grammy Award winning song, "Ai No Corrida", "S-s-single Bed", "Just one more night", Only you can, among them.

His songs have been recorded by The Rolling Stones, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, The Beach Boys, The Jackson 5, The Drifters, Quincy Jones, Joni Mitchell, Debbie Harry, Sam and Dave, Lenny Kravitz, Iggy Pop, Rickie Lee Jones, The Ramones, Gilberto Gil, Kate Bush, Jungle Brothers and Sylvia McNeill among others.

His productions included Rhythms Del Mundo featuring: Coldplay-"Clocks", Bob Dylan- "A hard rains a- gonna fall", Green Day-'I fought the law", "Amy Winehouse-"Cupid", The Gorillaz-"Feel good Inc.", The Arctic Monkeys-"Dancing Shoes", Ibrahim Ferrer-"As time goes by", Sting-"Fragile", Wyclef Jean-"Stayin Alive", Dizzee Rascal-"Holiday", KT Tunstall-"Because the night" and others.

Bands

Young formed two hit UK bands, Fox and Yellow Dog with whom he played, wrote and produced their top ten hits. In 1974 he Fox , a band featuring Susan Traynor as lead singer and who adopted the stage name Noosha Fox. The band broke up in 1977. Fox had 3 top 10 hits in the UK and other European countries. Young's other bands were , Gentlemen Without Weapons, 39 Vybes, and Rhythms del Mundo who's albums have gone platinum and gold in many countries.

Environmentalism

Young has been concerned about environmental issues for many years and in the 1980s co-founded the rainforest conservation organization, Earth Love Fund, with colleagues Vic Coppersmith-Heaven and Nick Glennie-Smith. He was recipient of the United Nations Global 500 Award for outstanding practical achievements in the protection and improvement of the environment for his work as co-founder and trustee of the Earth Love Fund, which supported and initiated over 200 community based projects in Brazil, Africa, Asia and Australia. in 2005 he founded Artists Project Earth -APE- which raises awareness and funds for climate change projects and for natural disaster relief. Since 2006 APE has funded and supported over 250 projects around the world.

He co-produced the Hollywood Genesis Award winning film Spirit of the Forest, which was a BBC-TV documentary about the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest.

He co-produced the album Earthrise, which was no.1 in the UK and released worldwide featuring U2, Paul McCartney, Sting (musicianSting, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Paul Simon, R.E.M. , Peter Gabriel, Queen, Seal and many others for ELF's conservation projects for the world's rainforests. He wrote and co-produced the song "Spirit of the Forest," which was a benefit record released by Richard Branson's Virgin Records and featured over 50 major international artists including Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Lenny Kravitz, LL Cool J, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Gilberto Gil, Jungle Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa and many others. He wrote and co-produced and performed on album Transmissions by Gentlemen Without Weapons on A&M Records. The band used only digital samples of nature for the music. A unique album, with a video produced by Pink Floyd's art director Storm Thorgeson, who also designed the album cover. He co-produced ELF's album Earthrise II, which featured top international names including Elton John, U2, The Cranberries, Shane MacGowan, R.E.M., Tears for Fears, Genesis , Eurythmics, Stereo MCs, Meat Loaf and more. He produced the album Planet Electrica in aid and relief of Hurricane Mitch. The album featured the top names in dance music, including The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Fatboy Slim, Underworld , Roni Size and Reprazent, and many others.

Most recently he produced the album Rhythms del Mundo-Cuba with musicians from Buena Vista Social Club and featured Coldplay, Radiohead, U2, Arctic Monkeys, Sting, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Dido Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and other top international artists. This was followed up by the 2nd album Rhythms Del Mundo - Classics featuring, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, The Rolling Stones, Jack Johnson and many others. Followed up by Rhythms Del Mundo Revival featuring: Bob Dylan, Green Day, Coldplay, Dizzee Rascal, The proceeds from the album benefits the environmental nonprofit organization Artists Project Earth -APE_ , which raises awareness and funds for climate change projects and for natural disaster relief efforts.

Currently he resides in the UK

External links

• Kenny Young discography at Discogs
• http://www.spectropop.com/KennyYoung/ spectropop.com interview by Brent Cash