SIX DEGREES OF KISS: LENA

Derek Francis I accept your challenge and will connect Lena to KISS in six steps or less.

Lena (full name Lena Meyer-Landrut) is a German pop star who set an all time chart record in Germany by debuting with three songs in the top five in the singles chart. How am I going to connect her to KISS in six steps or less? Like this: 

1. Lena won the Eurovision song contest for Germany in 2010 with the song "Satellite" which was written by American songwriter Julie Frost.

2. Julie Frost is one of nine YES NINE co-writers on the Beyonce single "Countdown" which "dropped" in October of 2011.

3. One of the I SHIT YOU NOT 22 producers YES THAT'S TWENTY-TWO PRODUCERS credited on Beyonce's 2008 album I Am Sasha Fierce is Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins.

4. Rodney Jerkins produced the Britney Spears version of "I Love Rock n' Roll" which appeared on her 2001 album Britney (Rodney was one of ONLY 10 yes only ten producers credited on that album).

When asked by Rolling Stone why she chose (yeah sure, she chose) to cover "I Love Rock n' Roll" Britney had this to say:

"I just love the song. I love Pat Benatar, and I just think she's amazing. It's like she's a rock 'n' roll chick and she's just having a good time and it's a very empowering song."

5. Of course "I Love Rock n' Roll" was never a Pat Benatar song. It was originally written and recorded in 1975 by the glam rock band Arrows. Only two people wrote it, Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker, and they were actually in the band, in other words they wrote and performed their own material. Imagine that.

Joan Jett had a number one hit with the song in the US in 1982 and before going solo Joan Jett was in an L.A. band called The Runaways who were managed by an "eccentric" named Kim Fowley.

6. Kim Fowley has co-writing credits on the songs "King of the Night Time World" and "Do You Love Me" from the KISS album Destroyer.

And there you have it.