Biography

Like all successful songwriters, Kenny O'Dell has always been a frustrated artist, and so far he has made three or four concerted efforts to make it as a singer. The first was back in the early 1960s with the self-penned Old Time Love released on the Mar-Kay label. Several hundred copies were pressed and the record did receive some airplay in southern California, but Kenny was still stuck on the bottom rung of the ladder. Unperturbed by this failure, he worked for a while with Duane Eddy gaining experience along the way before forming a group called Guys and Dolls. This outfit stayed together for some five years playing clubs and hotel lounges throughout the States, including seasons in Hawaii and Alaska.

Disillusioned by the bright lights of the pop world, Kenny moved to Nashville to write songs and take over running House Of Gold, Bobby Goldsboro's publishing firm. It was the best move he was to make in his whole career. He began writing songs, either by himself, or in partnership with Larry Henley, an ex-member of The Newbeats, who scored a notable pop hit with Bread and Butter in the early 1960s. One of their initial successes was with Why Don't We Go Somewhere And Love, which Kenny recorded for the Kapp label. Billy Sherrill heard the song and cut it with Sandy Posey who took the song into the country charts.

After graduating from Santa Maria High School in California, he formed his own record label, Mar-Kay Records, named after his parents.

The summer of 1978 saw Kenny make another bid at stardom, and this time he made the grade with Let's Shake Hands And Come Out Lovin'. A self-penned, mid-tempo ballad, the ingredients were just right and Kenny found himself climbing the country charts for the first time. Enthused by this success, he decided to put all his efforts into a singing career, and started working on a follow-up single and a second Nashville-produced album.

In the early months of 1966 he cut some demos of his creations, including Beautiful People. Whilst appearing in Las Vegas, a businessman got to hear Kenny's songs and was suitably impressed. He put up the money for a label, Vegas Records, and the initial release was Kenny's version of Beautiful People. A bouncy, infectious, happy-go-lucky song, the record quickly gained some important radio exposure and made it on the American pop charts. Bobby Vee, a well-established pop singer, put out a cover version and took the song into the top twenty, whilst Kenny's version climbed to the middle thirties. At the same time, another of Kenny's songs, Next Plane To London, as recorded by Rose Garden, also made it into the charts.