Vini Poncia

Vincent Poncia Jr. (b. April 29, 1942), better known as Vini Poncia, is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.

In the 1960s, Poncia formed the songwriting team "Anders and Poncia" with Peter Anders. An album of songs co-written by these childhood friends "The Anders & Poncia Album," was produced by Richard Perry and released in 1969. Their songs were recorded by artists including The Ronettes, Bobby Bloom, and Darlene Love. Anders and Poncia were also members of The Trade Winds and The Innocence. The Trade Winds's debut single "New York is a Lonely Town" reached #32 at billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966. (In 1991, Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita covered this song as "Tokyo is a Lonely Town".)

In 1968, together with Frankie Meluso (aka Mell) and Peter Anders, Poncia founded MAP (Mell Anders Poncia) City Records on 255th street off Broadway in New York City. Their company included a small recording studio brought from three to four tracks by chief engineer Peter H. Rosen, who recorded 16 albums for the company before the company dissolved in 1970.

During the 1970s, Poncia became Ringo Starr's cowriter, and appeared on several of his solo albums. He also produced albums for Melissa Manchester and Lynda Carter's "Portrait". As a songwriter, he wrote songs for Jackie DeShannon and Tommy James.

In 1976 he was producer for The Faragher Brothers dubbed the blue eyed soul bothers. ("Open Your Eyes" 1978 and "The Faraghers" 1979).

In 1978, he was tapped by Kiss drummer Peter Criss to produce his 1978 solo album. At Criss's prompting, Poncia was brought in to produce two Kiss albums – 1979's "Dynasty" and 1980s "Unmasked". In 1981 he produced the album "Turn Out The Lights" for the band Tycoon.

Poncia also produced the Detroit rock band Adrenalin and their song "Road of the Gypsy" from the Motion Picture Iron Eagle in 1985. He also produced DC Drive and their self titled album in 1991.

Poncia produced Criss's second post-Kiss solo album, 1982's "Let Me Rock You", and he is credited as co-writer for five songs on Kiss's 1989 release, "Hot in the Shade".

Persondata
NAME= Poncia, Vini
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Poncia, Vincent
SHORT DESCRIPTION=singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH= April 29, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=