Ritchie Cordell(1943-2004)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
American singer / songwriter / producer Richie Cordell was born Richard Rosenblatt in New York City in 1943. He began his musical career in his teens, singing and playing the guitar. In the early 1960s he made the acquaintance of a song plugger who introduced him to future superstar Paul Simon, then a struggling singer and songwriter using the name Jerry Landis. Simon and Cordell clicked, and Simon--writing as Landis--penned "Tick Tock", which was Cordell's first record, released in 1962. It was a moderate hit on the East Coast. After that Cordell started writing his own material.
He later went to work for Kama Sutra Records, but his time there was unproductive and in 1966 he was hired by Roulette Records as a staff songwriter. He worked with Tommy James and Tommy James & The Shondells, who were just coming off their first hit, "Hanky Panky". For the group he wrote one of their bigger hits, "I Think We're Alone Now" and co-wrote what is probably their best known song, "Mony Mony". which reached #3 on the US charts and #1 on the British charts.
In 1968 he left Roulette and went to work as a writer and producer for Super K Productions, which was put together by "bubble-gum music" powerhouses Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz, and released by Buddah Records. For them Cordell co-wrote "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'" in 1968 for the one-hit group Crazy Elephant and "Indian Giver" in 1969 for 1910 Fruitgum Company.
He struck out on his own in the 1970s, and in 1981 he hit the big time again as the co-writer and producer of "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, which hit #1 on the US charts. He also produced the group's album, "I Love Rock and Roll". In 1983 he co-produced the Ramones album "Subterranean Jungle".
Richie Cordell died of pancreatic cancer in New York City on April 13, 2004.
He later went to work for Kama Sutra Records, but his time there was unproductive and in 1966 he was hired by Roulette Records as a staff songwriter. He worked with Tommy James and Tommy James & The Shondells, who were just coming off their first hit, "Hanky Panky". For the group he wrote one of their bigger hits, "I Think We're Alone Now" and co-wrote what is probably their best known song, "Mony Mony". which reached #3 on the US charts and #1 on the British charts.
In 1968 he left Roulette and went to work as a writer and producer for Super K Productions, which was put together by "bubble-gum music" powerhouses Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz, and released by Buddah Records. For them Cordell co-wrote "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'" in 1968 for the one-hit group Crazy Elephant and "Indian Giver" in 1969 for 1910 Fruitgum Company.
He struck out on his own in the 1970s, and in 1981 he hit the big time again as the co-writer and producer of "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, which hit #1 on the US charts. He also produced the group's album, "I Love Rock and Roll". In 1983 he co-produced the Ramones album "Subterranean Jungle".
Richie Cordell died of pancreatic cancer in New York City on April 13, 2004.
