Vini Poncia

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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. Their songs were recorded by artists including The Ronettes, Bobby Bloom, and Darlene Love. Anders and Poncia were also members of The Tradewinds and The Innocents. The Tradewinds'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".)

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 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 1980's Unmasked.

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.