Kenny Denton - Tales from my diaries 1970-2010

Jimi Hendrix – Arrogance and a Death Threat

Place – Isle of Wight Festival, East Afton Farm Time – August 26th 1970 The Recording Crew – Vic Maile, Neville Crozier, Alan Perkins, Kenny Denton & Tony Carey The Pye Mobile was booked to record the entire Isle of Wight festival that year, this meant a drive to Southampton and ferry trip for me, […]

James Garner buys me breakfast

Place – De Lane Lea/CTS Recording Studios Wembley Time – 1981 Artist – Gigi Garner and James Garner One evening the session had finished early and everyone else had left, this was due to Gigi having to go for a photo session. I remained in the control room making a couple of phone calls, when […]

Diana Dors – Oh For Fluck’s Sake

Place -Studio Two, Pye Recording Studios, London Time – 1970 Guest visitor – Diana Dors Diana Dors, born Diana Fluck, was Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe. Her likeness appears on the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. After her death in 1984 she was acclaimed as a national treasure. Talking about […]

The Who – Hells Angels and a Broken Drum Mic

Place – Isle Of Wight Festival Time – 30th August 1970 Artist – The Who By Saturday the 29th of August the festival was well on its way. There were many uncertainties of which bands were going to actually to appear. The tension back stage between the organisers and artist about payments was growing. This […]

Bing Crosby Gives the Best Birthday Gift Ever

Place – The Music Centre, Wembley Time – July 1975 Artist – Bing Crosby In July 1975 at the Music Centre in Wembley, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire were recording a duet album. There was a rumour that Bing could be difficult to work with in the studio but this proved to have no foundation […]

Anthony Newley Part 1: Meet the Artful Dodger

Place – De Lane Lea/CTS Wembley England Time – 1974 Artist – Anthony Newley The Movie – Mister Quilp Anthony Newley was a major international celebrity. His career spanned more than 50 years. Landing his first major film role as The Artful Dodger in the David Lean’s 1948 film Oliver twist. Newley went from being […]

Isle of Wight – a Beautiful Dream That Became a Monster

Place – Isle of Wight Festival Time – August 1970 Artist – Kris Kristofferson and John Sebastian In my opinion the real stars of the Isle of Wight festival were Kris Kristofferson and John Sebastian. Kristofferson was comparatively unknown in the UK and did the first of his two performances on the Wednesday. His set […]

Clem Cattini Performs Some Real Magic

Place – Decca Studios, London Time – Mid 60s Producer – Dick Rowe The renowned Dick Rowe was the producer on this Decca Studios session. Famously he was head of A&R at Decca Records and known as the man that turned down The Beatles. The session drummer was one of the most likeable guys in […]

Doug Sahm Nightmare Part 1 – A Bad Start

The Band, Sir Douglas Quintet Place -Sweden & San Francisco Time – 1982 Album – Midnight Sun $50,000 and a cell mate named Bubba “You can always tell a Texan but you can’t tell him much.” The Sir Douglas Quintet, led by Doug Sahm, originated out of San Antonio Texas. The Quintet’s original roots of […]

Bill Haley Part 1- My First Meeting With a True Charismatic Star

Place – De Lane Lea Wembley, England Time – April 1979 Artist – Bill Haley Album – Everyone Can Rock ‘n’ Roll Bill Haley has sold over 150 million records worldwide and he was the first artist to record a rock ‘n’ roll single, a track called Rocket 88. I think it is safe to […]

30 Million in Just 2 Minutes, What a Triumph!

Place – Pye Recording Studios Time – 1970 Artist – Mungo Jerry Producer – Barry Murray Engineers – Terry Evennett & Howard Barrow Mungo Jerry’s greatest success was with the song In the Summertime, which topped the UK charts for seven weeks in the early seventies, it was also number one in twenty-six countries around […]

Tommy Boyce Part 1: Improving on the Beach Boys

Place – Del Lane Lea Studios Time – Mid 70s Artist – Tommy Boyce Engineer – Kenny Denton Tommy Boyce’s first big success as a writer was Be My Guest for Fats Domino. Then in 1961 with Curtis Lee he co-wrote, Under The Moon of Love and Pretty Little Angel Eyes, which were produced by […]

Fred Astaire’s Mum turned out to prefer Tony Bennet

Place – De Lane Lea/CTS Recording Studios, Wembley Time – July 1975 Artist – Fred Astaire On completing the duet album with Bing Crosby, Fred remained on at the studio for one more week to complete his own solo album. During this week Fred received the very sad news that his Mother had passed away […]

The Doors – In the Dark About the Bass Player

Place – Isle of Wight Festival Time – Saturday 29th August 1970 Artist – The Doors Late on the Saturday evening we were receiving a lot of feedback in the truck that the Doors were refusing to go on stage. This wasn’t unusual as there were many bands during the festival that were having heavy […]

Sham 69: Got What It Takes To Be A Star

Sham 69: Got What It Takes To Be A Star?

Place – De Lane Lea Studios, England Time – 1977 Artist – Sham 69 Engineer – Rafe McKenna In early 1977 whilst working at De Lane Lea the managing director, Louis Elman, set up a new production arm to the studio complex, it was to be called Delben Music and to be headed up by […]

Cajun Advenure Part 1: The Search for Talent in Louisiana

Place – Louisiana Time – 1992 Artist – Toby Tomera First a quick history lesson, don’t worry I’ll keep it short. In 1605 French settlers arrived in what is now Nova Scotia. In 1755 they refused to pledge allegiance to the English Crown so a large number of the early colonists relocated to Louisiana. Other […]

Secrets In The Attic

Place – KD’s Studio, Chiswick, London Time – 1994 Artist – Alisha’s Attic Alisha’s Attic was a successful duo in the mid-nineties. The two sisters Karen and Shelly are the daughters of Brian Poole, who with his backing band the Tremelos had several hits in the mid 60s. Alisha’s were nominated for a 1997 Brit […]

Strange But True: Music Industry Anecdotes

Place – Various Time – 1960- 2006 Artist – Various Barry Gibb and Blue Weaver – Saturday Night Fever Blue Weaver was a founder member of Amen Corner, a Welsh rock band. He has also played with many great artists including Family, T-Rex on Get It On and Telegram Sam, Lou Reed on Berlin, Alice […]

Hi I’m Augie Meyers Am I In The Right Place

Place – London – New York – San Antonio Time – 1981 – 2000 Artist – Augie Meyers Augie Meyers is a legendary Texas musician, best known as the keyboard player for The Sir Douglas Quintet and The Texas Tornados. Bob Dylan once said of Augie. “Augie’s my man, he’s like an intellectual who goes […]

My Book Is Now Available From Amazon

After what feels like forever and in fact was a lifetime, I’m thrilled to announce that my book is finished and on sale If you are even slightly intrigued and want to read more of these stories, the book is now available through Amazon. I hope you enjoy it I know I did. Growing up in the East End of the 1950s was no walk in the park. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon the magic of music and cinema that I realised there was a whole world beyond my imagination. In 1969, fate handed me a golden ticket: […]

My name is Kenny Denton

I am a record producer, recording engineer and songwriter.

For over 40 years I had the privilege to work with some of the most amazing, talented, crazy and often deluded people in the world of music and movies.

During my career, I have learnt to obtain success in the Music Industry, you could be in the business for 5 minutes or 20 years, you could be very gifted or have no talent at all, none of it really matters, it all boils down to one thing,

… …there ain’t no rules in rock ‘n’ roll

I have had so many amazing encounters and met so many incredible people I thought I would share with you some of the stories I have collected.

I hope you enjoy the stories? I know that I did.

There Ain’t No Rules In Rock ‘n’ Roll

My name is Kenny Denton