Kenny Vance: The Duke of doo-wop

Brooklyn Magazine: The Podcast

A Brooklyn kid, born in Flatbush in 1943, Kenny Vance came of age right along with rock and roll. He grew up around icons of doo-wop like fellow Brooklynites Little Anthony and the Imperials and the Jive Five. Vance himself would co-found the singing group Jay and the Americans, who were signed by the legendary songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller. Before he was 20 the group was scoring hits like “She Cried," and the band opened for the Beatles and The Rolling Stones on each of their first U.S. tours. Later in his career Vance would become a music supervisor on classic films including “Animal House” and “The Warriors.” He also basically discovered Steely Dan. His new film, “Heart and Soul” is a love letter to the bands he idolized as a kid — and features interviews with a few of their surviving members.

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