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JOAN JETT's longtime musical partner says rock is a struggle
from: beloitdailynews.com
by Clint Wolf
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS are known for putting on a high-energy rocking performance, full of songs Jett has made rock standards.
There also is usually plenty of leather, tattoos and spiked hair.
Except, there is in the background - behind the keyboards - someone who even he himself admits doesn't quite fit the vision of rock/punk star. Resembling more Ben Stein than Sid Vicious, KENNY LAGUNA doesn't seem to mind not being in the spotlight.
But, Laguna has played guitar, keyboards, sang, or co-wrote songs on every recording of JOAN JETT's solo career over the past 29 years.
Laguna also has worked with numerous other performers. He was one of the original Shondells of Tommy James and the Shondells. He produced the Bow Wow Wow hit, "I Want Candy." And he co-wrote JOAN JETT tunes such as "Bad Reputation" and "Love is Pain."
And he sounds like one of the biggest JOAN JETT fans there is.
"It has been real satisfying to see her getting the attention she deserves," Laguna said in a telephone interview with the Beloit Daily News.
Jett has shown her staying power in the realm of rock. Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" includes Jett's version of "I Love Rock and Roll." Other surveys place her among the top guitarists in rock. But, Laguna, who first met JOAN JETT in 1979, says her continued success is more a testament to her willingness to fight to get her songs played than anything else.
"After all these years, it's still a battle to get your songs played," said Laguna, who also is her record producer. "She has had about 11 hits and it was a war to get every one of them."
Convincing record companies and promoters that a song can be a hit has always been a battle, Laguna said.
"Tommy James was the Led Zeppelin of bubblegum pop. When he did 'Mony Mony' even our own record company didn't think it was a hit," Laguna said.
Today, Laguna hears that song at sporting events and on the radio, showing you never really know what song will have staying power.
Laguna also was producer for JOAN JETT's remake of another Tommy James hit that has proven its staying power, "Crimson and Clover." Jett released it in 1982 and has included it in her shows ever since.
Even now as Jett tours to promote her latest album, "SINNER," she has to push to get the airplay to promote it.
Jett and Laguna met in London when she was 16 and was just ending her run with the all-girl group, The RUNAWAYS. They soon started their long running partnership and co-founded Jett's record label BLACKHEART RECORDS in 1980. It was one of the first independent record labels and the first owned by a woman.
He's been happy to work with Jett in the studio and promoting her, but shortly after 9-11 he's taken a more active role on tour. He said in New Jersey, there was a benefit concert where Jett and Bruce Springsteen performed. Springsteen had written a song for Jett and Laguna, an East Coast native, was there to sing background vocals.
Shortly afterward, Laguna and Jett were among the first non-combatants to go into Afghanistan in 2001.
"We were doing a 'handshake tour.' We ended up doing a two-person show for troops," he recalled.
Now, Laguna accompanies Jett on 50 to 100 shows a year and he leaves the business end of BLACKHEART RECORDS to his daugher.
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