Legendary songwriter, producer, arranger, performer and lifelong musician Denny Randell is both savoring a renewed wellspring of acclaim for his many historic musical accomplishments—including three of his songs being featured in the Tony award winning Broadway hit Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, and the show’s Grammy award winning soundtrack album--and enjoying breaking new artistic ground with Randell & Schippers, his performing duo with partner Biddy Schippers. Randell also co-owns DRC Entertainment and Music Avenue Records with Schippers, and together they are building on the momentum of their Randell & Schippers dance chart hit “Alice In Wonderland,” and developing projects for other artists.

Recently, Denny Randell was nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the New York City-based institution founded in 1969 to recognize those, “who create the popular songs that serve as the soundtrack of our lives.” It’s a fitting accolade for Randell, who first rose to international fame over four decades ago with a pair of diverse and concurrent successes.

Co-written and produced by Randell, The Toys’ classic “A Lover’s Concerto” was a top pop single of 1965, hitting #1 in Cashbox and #2 in Billboard, as well as #1 for six weeks running at NYC’s legendary radio station WABC-AM. It has since become a worldwide standard covered by stars including Sarah Vaughn, Diana Ross & the Supremes and Quincy Jones. The song is based on Bach’s “Concerto in G Major,” a piece that made a lasting impression on Randell when he practiced it during a handful of piano lessons he had as a child. It reflects Denny’s inspiration to spin an original pop hit from the classical masterpiece. He titled and constructed his “lover’s poem” musically before collaborating on lyrics, and the record was released independently on the fledgling Dynovoice label after the majors passed on it. In its review of the now-immortal song, allmusic.com writes, “Few records are this perfect…’A Lover’s Concerto’ marks the apogee of the Girl Group sound…verse and chorus are so cunningly blended that neither stands apart from the other, to transform a simple song into a virtual symphony.”

The other cornerstone of Denny Randell’s initial success was his hit-making work with the phenomenal Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. The same year that “A Lover’s Concerto” soared up the charts, “Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got)”—co-written with Four Seasons’ producer Bob Crewe and with Sandy Linzer—was a top Pop sensation. “It really was fantastic,” recalls Randell, “to have two monumental smashes at the same time.” The song and two others that Randell penned for the Four Seasons--“Opus 17” and “Working My Way Back To You” (also a Spinners hit)—are spotlighted in the Broadway musical Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, about which New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley wrote, “once the Four Seasons classics are rolled out, every other pair of shoulders in the house starts a-twitchin’…the group’s songs remain exasperatingly infectious.”

In all, Valli and the Seasons have recorded eight of Randell’s songs. Randell’s original Four Seasons connection came through an introduction to the group’s Bob Gaudio made by then Columbia Records A&R man Al Kasha. In addition to the aforementioned classic songs, Randell arranged and conducted a number of other important early sides for the Seasons including the top Billboard hits “Big Man In Town” and “Save It For Me,” as well as much of the Rag Doll album, the TV theme “On Broadway Tonight” and later, the group’s hit version of “And That Reminds Me.”     As a songwriter, Denny’s hits for the Seasons also include “Betrayed,” and “Swearin’ To God”— a solo smash for Frankie Valli.
Over the years, Denny Randell’s songs have sold over 200 million records and charted in Billboard more than fifty times.   These include his Odyssey hit  “Native Yorker” and the Disco Tex hit “I Wanna Dance Wit’Choo.” In 1998, Smash Mouth had major chart action with Randell’s    “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby” and in 2002, Denny’s credits included a co-write on the Busta Rhymes hit “Pass The Courvoisier.” Other Randell-penned highlights include Jay and The Techniques’ “Keep The Ball Rolling” and “Baby Make Your Own Sweet Music” and Samantha Sang’s recording of “You Keep Me Dancin’.” With theatrical composer Maury Yeston, Denny wrote songs for the Star Wars Christmas Album, the An American Werewolf In London soundtrack album and the Tommy Tune-directed off-Broadway hit Cloud 9.

As a producer, Randell has worked with artists including Iron Butterfly, Tim Buckley, Richie Havens, Ruben and the Jets, Bee Gees-affiliated vocalist Terri DeSario and, through his production company, Kenny G (who he motivated Clive Davis to sign as a solo artist). Also in association with Davis, Denny’s production company oversaw the hit album and single Pop Goes The Movies by Meco. Over the last four decades, songs Denny has written or co-written have also been recorded by a diverse range of acts including Barry Manilow, Busta Rhymes and P Diddy, Manhattan Transfer, the Monkees, Odyssey, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Sarah Vaughn, Jan and Dean, Patti Austin, Al Hirt, Cilla Black and many others.

Randell’s latest release, the trippy and infectious dance groove “Alice In Wonderland,” is a current favorite nationwide at clubs and record pools, charting on the national DJ Times Dance Crossover Top 40 chart. Randell co-wrote and co-produced the song with his partner, collaborator and wife, Biddy Schippers, performing it under their recording artist moniker Randell & Schippers, with the two featured on lead vocals. The unique hit is the title track from the pair’s current Alice In Wonderland album, available on their own label Music Avenue Records/DRC Entertainment. Previous dance hits for Randell & Schippers include “Let’s Go For It” and “Love Jam,” which the U.K.’s Blues & Soul Magazine called, “Quite simply, a modern masterpiece.”

Denny Randell’s current role as co-owner of Music Avenue and DRC finds precedence in the A&R positions he’s held over the years at companies including RCA, Epic/CBS and Frank Zappa’s Warner/Discreet Records, among the many major labels for which he has produced. Denny brings this vast experience to his creative partnership with Biddy in developing DRC releases for diverse acts including the vocal quartet Soul Tempo, whose recent R&S-produced Music Avenue album Rendezvous features the recent national club/dance hit version of  Denny’s song “Swearin To God.” Denny and Biddy are also deep into writing a full length musical theater piece that they have been developing over the last several years and are close to completing.

A native New Yorker, Denny Randell began playing and writing music as a child. Growing up, by day he spent all the time he could in his school’s band room, and at night, he was out gigging at local dates beginning in his early teens, when he was in one of the area’s most popular bands, managed by a top local radio DJ.  Denny Randell lives and works in Southern California.