FOLIO
Words by Kaili Cochran
In the world of music, there are songs that immediately play in your head when you hear an artist’s name. But, there are also other artists behind the scenes whose contributions helped shape the hit music we all know and love today. And some with Jacksonville ties.
When you think of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper, Lauper is undeniably the face of the song but Rick Derringer’s contributions helped build its success and launch her career. Similarly, with “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang, it’s Eumir Deodato’s arrangement and orchestration that gave the song its catchy rhythm.
Derringer began his career in 1990 and has performed all around the world. Throughout his career, he has worked with an array of artists including “Weird Al” Yankovic, Pat Benatar, Steely Dan and, of course, Lauper. Derringer is known for contributing to and producing hundreds of hit albums across multiple genres.
Deodato has worked with a variety of artists including Roberta Flack, Frank Sinatra, Earth Wind & Fire and many more, like Kool & the Gang. Deodato is responsible for composing, producing, arranging and conducting more than 500 albums and scoring 60 feature films including “The Onion Field,” “Being There” and “Bossa Nova.” Deodato has been a major influence of hit music during the last 60 years, having won multiple Grammys and multi-million selling awards from ASCAP & BMI. More than one thousand rap and singing top selling artists such as Biggie Smalls, Will Smith and Madonna have sampled Deodato’s original music creating even more hit songs from his work.
Kenn Moutenot has been Deodato’s manager for 25 years and Derringer for 15. Moutenot is also the producer and band leader for Deodato and performs as drummer with Derringer. Moutenot started working his way into the industry since he developed his love for drumming and music early on as a teenager. He has made a name for himself since 1982 when he started by performing extensively in bands at nightclubs, resorts and casinos throughout the U.S. and internationally.
During Moutenot’s time in the industry, he worked alongside (and became close friends with) Buddy Miles and Charles Torres. Moutenot, Miles, Torres and Derringer toured the globe for seven years together up until 2000. All four of them had been on stage together thousands of times over the span of 30-plus years. Sadly, Miles passed in 2008. But, Moutenot, Torres and Derringer continue to perform together as part of the Rick Derringer Band and hold onto the memory of Buddy Miles.
Moutenot and Deodato both reside locally in Jacksonville, at least for the time being. They came here after celebrating Deodato and Kool & The Gang being inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio at the end of 2024. Although not a formal member of the band, Deodato’s niche for orchestration is what helped build one of Kool & The Gang’s hit songs, “Celebration.” In fact, Deodato was credited at the Hall of Fame for his contributions and was mentioned on stage. One member of Kool & The Gang said it “couldn’t have been done without [him].”
After the Hall of Fame induction, Deodato decided to move to Orange Park. As Moutenot put it, he essentially threw a dart at a dart board and said he’s moving to Florida!
Deodato invited Moutenot to come down to Orange Park and work together. After all, they’re both familiar with Northeast Florida having performed at the Florida Theatre and Thrasher-Horne Center multiple times.
After his change of residence, Moutenot established Ladies Night at the Muse Bourbon Bar, where he blends classic and modern-day music creating a different type of experience. Instead of the usual pre-recorded music heard at most clubs around town, Moutenot had the idea to add live drums to the song. (You can check him out every Wednesday from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.)
“It’s a very unique thing, what I’m doing. I feel like I’m doing something that people aren’t doing,” Moutenot said. “Everything’s coming out of the speakers like my drums and my vocals, along with the pre-recorded music, all coming out of two speakers. So I just jump back and forth and I have real cymbals and stuff.”
Moutenot’s biggest challenge is making sure Deodato and Derringer leave a preserved legacy, and Moutenot himself is working on three films to do so. The first one — 15 years in the making — will be released in 2026 titled “Rockumentary” and will be about Rick Derringer featuring a dozen Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees including Alice Cooper, Joe Walsh and Gene Simmons. The second documentary is being produced about Deodato, including his early days in Brazil during the 1960s through his more recent work in New York and New Jersey producing at CTI Records. The third film is a biopic about Moutenot’s own life adventures during his career thus far performing before millions on and features collecting footage onstage and backstage, catering to the fans with behind-the-scenes stories direct from the mouths of the artists themselves.
“For me to work with these guys and Deodato and, and Rick Derringer can be like in the Guinness Book of World Records for like we did the most, like if there was like a contest, those two guys are close and Deodato did more but Rick Derringer also was one of these people that have done so much and have so many credits and so many albums,” Moutenot said. “It is a time where I believe that these artists are going to be revered like Michelangelo as time goes on.”
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