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Jonathan King

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Jonathan King
photograph
King in 2007
Born
Kenneth George King

(1944-12-06) 6 December 1944 (age 79)
London, England
EducationM.A. (Cantab)
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Occupation(s)Record producer, writer, impresario, singer, songwriter.
Known forStudio "novelty" records, discovery of Genesis, owning label that released early 10cc hits, being an original backer of The Rocky Horror Show
Notable work(As singer, songwriter, or both): "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" (1965), "Johnny Reggae" (1971), "Sugar, Sugar" (1971), "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" (1971), "Lazybones" (1971), "Hooked on a Feeling" (1971), "Loop di Love" (1972), "Una Paloma Blanca" (1975), "It Only Takes a Minute" (1976), "Gloria" (1979).
Parent(s)Jimmy King (died June 1954) and Ailsa (died 24 August 2007)
RelativesJamie and Andy (brothers)
AwardsBritish Phonographic Industry Man of the Year, 1997
Websitewww.kingofhits.com

Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter, impresario, record producer, and writer.

King first came to public attention with his 1965 record "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", which was a hit in Britain and America. He followed this with a string of record releases, of which four made the UK Singles Chart Top 10 in the 1970s. Many were "novelty" records credited to pseudonymous bands.

In parallel to his performing career, in the late 1960s and in the 1970s King produced other acts as well as his own recordings. He became a "talent spotter" for Decca Records and, in this capacity, discovered Genesis. After leaving Decca in 1970, he had a short period with Bell Records, where he produced a number of UK hits including the Bay City Rollers' first single. In 1972, he founded his own record label, UK Records. Its most significant signing was 10cc who were with the label during the period of their early hits. In the 1980s and 1990s King became more involved in media work and regularly appeared as a presenter of British television programmes including Top of the Pops and Entertainment USA.

King was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2001, after being found guilty of committing six offences of indecent assault, buggery and attempted buggery against five boys aged between 14 and 16 during the 1980s.[1][2][3] He was released on parole in 2005.

Early life and education

King was born in London and was the first child of an American-born father and English-born mother. His father was the managing director of a textile firm who died when King was nine. The family moved to Surrey, and King and his two brothers, James and Anthony, were raised in the village of Ewhurst near Dorking.[4] He was sent to Stoke House boarding school in Seaford, Sussex and later Charterhouse, in Godalming, Surrey - both private schools.[5]

While on a round-the-world trip between school and university, King met, by chance, The Beatles and their manager, Brian Epstein, and was inspired by Epstein to pursue a career in the music industry.[6] King then went to Trinity College, Cambridge and graduated from there in 1966.[7] He has an M.A. in English literature.[1]

1960s–1970s

Photograph by Allan Warren, 1969

Between 1965 and 1979, King released 17 records which appeared in the Top 75 of the UK Singles Chart, of which five made the Top 10.[8] Many were studio "novelty" records released either under his own name or under the name of a pseudonymous band.[9]

In 1965, while he was still an undergraduate, King wrote and recorded "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", which reached number 4 in the UK charts and number 17 in America.[6][7] Later, he wrote and produced "It's Good News Week" by Hedgehoppers Anonymous, which was a top five hit in the UK and reached number 50 in America.[7] Apart from these early record sales in the United States, his public presence has largely been limited to Britain.[7]

In 1967, shortly after leaving University, he was given his own television show, Good Evening; I'm Jonathan King, which made him a familiar figure to the British public.[7][10] Around this time, King was recruited by Sir Edward Lewis, the founder of Decca Records, to be his personal assistant and "talent spotter".[11][12] He became Lewis's adviser on new pop music.[7]

It was in this role that King discovered and signed for Decca, in late 1967, the band that was to become Genesis.[7] During a visit to his old school, Charterhouse, a friend of one of the band members handed him a recording by the band who were pupils at the school.[13] King decided that he would be their record producer, choosing their name, Genesis, to mark the start of his production career.[14][15] He produced their first single, "The Silent Sun" (which the band subsequently described as a "Bee Gees pastiche"), and their first album, From Genesis to Revelation, which bore little resemblance to the band's later work.[16][17] Neither record made any impact, with the album selling only about 650 copies.[18] Genesis parted with King after this and, outside of his influence, the band reshaped its music in the style that subsequently made it famous.[7][14] King still holds the rights to the first album and has re-released it several times under a variety of titles.[17] Genesis have reportedly disowned the album and are said to have been embarrassed by its re-release.[16] Nevertheless, bassist Mike Rutherford has commented that "for all his faults" King had given them an opportunity to record which was, at that time, hard to come by for an amateur band.[19]

King left Decca in 1970.[7] Moving to Bell Records, King was asked to produce the first release for The Bay City Rollers, who had recently been signed by Bell.[20] The resulting record, "Keep on Dancing", reached number 9 in the UK charts, but King had no further involvement with the band after that.[21] Besides this record, in the two years after leaving Decca King produced a number of mostly minor hits, often performed by King himself - either in his own name or in the name of a pseudonymous band.[7] The most successful of these were "Loop di Love" as Shag, and "Johnny Reggae" as The Piglets, both of which made the Top 5 of the UK singles chart.[22][23]

In September 1972, King set up his own record label, UK Records,[24] which was distributed by Decca.[7] UK Records' most significant signing was 10cc[7] whom he also named.[25] The band made eight UK singles with the label, including "Donna" which reached number 2 in the UK charts and the number 1 "Rubber Bullets".[26][27] Although they also released four US singles[27] they failed to penetrate the American market.[26] 10cc left UK Records in 1975 for Mercury Records,[27] after which they achieved significant success in America, as well as in Britain.[26] Other signings to UK Records included Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs, Roy C, The First Class and Lobo, and it also acted as the vehicle for the release of King's own recordings.[28]

King had a top five hit in 1975 with his cover of the George Baker song "Una Paloma Blanca".[7][23] Between then and 1979 King had a further series of minor hits, performing either under his own name or as a pseudonymous band, the most successful of which was a cover of "It Only Takes A Minute" as One Hundred Ton and a Feather.[23] King closed UK Records in 1979 but has regularly re-released recordings from the UK Records' catalogue ever since.[28]

In 1973, King became one of the original backers of the The Rocky Horror Show.[7][29] After seeing it on its second night, he invested in a 20% stake in the show and produced a recording of it which was made over one weekend.[29]

In 1978, he stood for parliament as an independent in the Epsom and Ewell by-election, but failed to get elected.[30]

1980s–1990s

King (left) with Jon Bon Jovi

During 1980 and 1981, King presented a daily talk show on New York's WMCA radio from 10–12 weekday mornings, and regularly reported from the U.S. on Top of the Pops. A spinoff series, Entertainment USA was broadcast on BBC 2. He was associate producer of the youth TV show No Limits. He hosted the ITV programme Ultra Quiz during 1983. He wrote a page in The Sun for eight years called "Bizarre USA". He also wrote two novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner.[10] He continued some music projects, including the rock group "Gogmagog".[31]

King hosted the BRIT Awards for the BBC in 1992. He produced the Great British Song Contest in 1997, the BBC quest for a Eurovision Song Contest entrant.[10]

In 1993, he founded The Tip Sheet, a magazine promoting unknown and unsigned musical acts,[32] which closed in 2002 to be replaced by an online message board.[33]

In 1997, he was awarded the British Phonographic Industry Man of the Year Award with a message of support from the then-prime minister Tony Blair for his "important contribution to one of this country's great success stories."[34]

From 2000 onwards

Conviction and aftermath

In 2000 King was investigated by police in relation to allegations of sexual offences committed against boys since the 1970s. The investigation had been prompted by one of his alleged victims contacting the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) in May that year, initially in relation to alleged offences committed by another celebrity. The complainant subsequently alleged that King had tried to assault him in the early 1970s when the complainant was a teenager. NCIS handed the investigation over to Surrey Police, who found a second complainant who made similar allegations. The police interviewed King in November, and he made an appearance on television denying "these absurd allegations". As a result of this appearance 27 men came forward to make similar allegations. Surrey Police subsequently revealed that their investigation, covering the years 1969 to 1989, had found that King had approached 10,000 to 20,000 boys ostensibly to question them for "research", which the police said was "a device to get to the boys and start speaking to them and grooming them for his purposes." The investigation led to King's being charged and put on trial at the Old Bailey.[35][36]

King denied the charges but, in September 2001, he was found guilty of six offences of indecent assault, buggery and attempted buggery against five boys aged between 14 and 16 during the 1980s.[37] Two months later, he was sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment for those offences. In sentencing him, Judge David Paget, QC, said "You used your fame and success to attract adolescent and impressionable boys. You then abused the trust they and their parents placed in you."[38] Shortly before he was sentenced he was acquitted, in a separate case, of similar offences. The alleged victim in the latter case had said he had consented to sex with King and had been older at the time than he had initially told police, meaning that a statutory limitation period barring prosecution applied.[39]

King has always maintained he was innocent of all the offences.[29] He has claimed he is a victim of a miscarriage of justice brought about by an "incredibly unfair" legal system, the conduct of the press and police and "false allegations" generated as a result of media publicity.[40][41] Journalists Richard Stott and Lynn Barber wrote that he had been over-harshly treated, although neither believed him innocent of the charges.[2][42]

King served the first five months of his sentence in Belmarsh Prison, but was then sent to the "vulnerable prisoners" wing allocated to sex offenders and corrupt police officers at Maidstone Prison.[43] In 2003, the Court of Appeal rejected his application to hear an appeal of both the conviction and the sentence.[3] He was released on parole in March 2005.[44] He appealed his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the European Court of Human Rights, but without success.[29][45][46] King remains on the Sex Offenders Register and is prohibited from working with anyone under the age of 18.[29]

King has maintained an interest in prison issues by continuing to write a monthly column for Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners, which he began while he was in prison.[47][48] In October 2011, then BBC Director-General Mark Thompson apologised to Jonathan King, following the removal of King's performance of "It Only Takes a Minute" from a 1976 episode of Top of the Pops that was repeated on BBC Four.[49]

Creative output

Since his release from prison, King has been unable to work in the mainstream media and he has been limited to self-producing feature films and LPs, and self-publishing books.[50] His creative output has been described as being, at times, "a primal scream of rage".[29] In 2007, King posted a song on the internet which claimed that serial killer Harold Shipman had been a victim of the media.[51]

In May 2008, King posted for free download on the internet his 96-minute film, Vile Pervert: The Musical.[52] King is the only actor in the movie and portrays 21 different roles. The Telegraph described it as an attempted justification of the events that led to his conviction and a "bizarre home-made film" about a television celebrity who was subjected to "malicious abuse allegations, in a fictional case that King clearly intends to represent his own demise".[53] The Spectator's Rod Liddle called it "a fantastically berserk, bravado performance".[54]

King has also self-published an autobiography and a novel,[50] and made two other films, Me Me Me (2011)[55][56] and The Pink Marble Egg (2013), which screened at Cannes but not as part of the official festival.[57][58]

Discography

Singles

Year Title UK Singles Chart[8] Credited to
1965 "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" #4 Jonathan King
1970 "Let It All Hang Out" #26 Jonathan King
1971 "It's the Same Old Song" #19 Weathermen
1971 "Sugar Sugar" #12 Sakkarin
1971 "Lazy Bones" #23 Jonathan King
1971 "Johnny Reggae" #3 The Piglets
1971 "Hooked on a Feeling" #23 Jonathan King
1972 "Flirt!" #22 Jonathan King
1972 "Loop di Love" #4 Shag
1974 "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" #29 Bubblerock
1975 "Una Paloma Blanca (White Dove)" #5 Jonathan King
1975 "Chick-a-Boom (Don't Ya Jes Love It)" #36 53rd and 3rd featuring the Sound of Shag
1976 "In the Mood" #46 Sound 9418
1976 "It Only Takes a Minute" #9 One Hundred Ton and a Feather
1978 "One for You, One for Me" #29 Jonathan King
1978 "Lick A Smurp for Christmas (All Fall Down)" #58 Father Abraphart and The Smurps
1979 "You're the Greatest Lover" #67 Jonathan King
1979 "Gloria" #65 Jonathan King

References

  1. ^ a b "Jonathan King jailed for child sex abuse". The Guardian. 21 November 2001.
  2. ^ a b Barber, Lynn. "The King and I". The Observer (London). 20 October 2002.
  3. ^ a b "King loses appeal bid". BBC News. 24 January 2003.
  4. ^ Jonathan King. "King of Hits". Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  5. ^ For the brothers' names, see 65 My Life So Far, p. 6 and p. 10. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b "The rise and fall of a pop tsar". The Guardian. London. Press Association. 29 March 2005.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bruce Eder. "Jonathan King". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  8. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). Guinness World Records Limited, 19th edition. p. 302. ISBN 1904994105.
  9. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 4. p. 850. ISBN 0195313739.
  10. ^ a b c "Jonathan King (IV)". IMDb. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  11. ^ Larkin, Colin (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia Of 70s Music. p. 217. ISBN 1852279478.
  12. ^ Hardy, Phil; Laing, Dave (1995). Da Capo companion to twentieth-century popular music. p. 520. ISBN 0306806401.
  13. ^ Holm-Hudson, Kevin (2008). Genesis and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". p. 23. ISBN 0754661393.
  14. ^ a b Bruce Eder. "Genesis". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  15. ^ "The Boll Weevils, the Beatals, The Arkansas Rollers - Now that's what I call music". The Daily Mail. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2010.,
  16. ^ a b Carruthers, Bob (2007). Genesis The Gabriel Era. ISBN 1906283354. Chapter 1, "From Genesis to Revelation", e-book edition Coda Books, 2011, ASIN: B006JYSIPA
  17. ^ a b Hombach, Jean-Pierre (2012). Phil Collins. p. 17. ISBN 1470134446.
  18. ^ Holm-Hudson, Kevin (2008). Genesis and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". p. 24. ISBN 0754661393.
  19. ^ Neer, Dan (1985). Mike on Mike [interview LP], Atlantic Recording Corporation.
  20. ^ Coy, Wayne (2005). Bay City Babylon: The Unbelievable But True Story of the Bay City Rollers. pp. 23–24. ISBN 1587364638.
  21. ^ Coy, Wayne (2005). Bay City Babylon: The Unbelievable But True Story of the Bay City Rollers. pp. 24, 26–27. ISBN 1587364638.
  22. ^ "Who is Jonathan King?". The Guardian. 24 November 2000. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  23. ^ a b c Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins. p. 429. ISBN 0-00-717931-6.
  24. ^ "King Forms U.K. Records". Billboard. 9 September 1972.
  25. ^ "10CC". Snopes.com. citing Dolgins, Adam (1998). Rock Names: From ABBA to ZZ Top. pp. 254–255. ISBN 0806520469.
  26. ^ a b c Jason Ankeny. "10cc". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  27. ^ a b c Thompson, Dave (2002). The Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting. ISBN 0879307137. "UK Records", E-book edition
  28. ^ a b Southall, Brian (2003). The A-Z of record labels. p. 276. ISBN 1860744923.
  29. ^ a b c d e f "Jonathan King: 'The only apology I have is to say that I was good at seduction'". The Independent on Sunday. 22 April 2012.
  30. ^ "Relentless ego of self-styled man". London Evening Standard. 21 November 2001. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  31. ^ Munro, Eden (25 March 2009). "Gogmagog", Vue (Edmonton, Alberta). Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  32. ^ "King's Tip Sheet to carry on". BBC News. London. 21 November 2001. Retrieved 31 December 20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  33. ^ "Tip Sheet stays online as mag closes doors". 6 April 2002. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
  34. ^ Burrell, Ian (24 October 1997). "Blair goes loop di love over King". The Independent. London. Next week, the pop pundit is to be honoured as "Man of the Year" by the British Phonographic Industry, the umbrella organisation representing the music business. ... The choice has attracted considerable murmurings of disapproval, not surprising in view of Mr King's deliberate cultivation of an image as "the man they love to hate" in British music. But the Prime Minister is not among the critics. He has written to King to congratulate him. Mr Blair gushes: "You have made an important contribution to one of this country's great success stories and this award is very well deserved." Mr Blair signs off his letter in appropriately poptastic language: "I look forward to your continuing determination to ensure that Great Britain means Great Music."
  35. ^ Hall, Sarah (22 November 2001). "Victim's angry email led to downfall". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  36. ^ O'Neill, Sean (22 November 2001). "The shameful private life hidden behind flamboyant self-publicity". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  37. ^ "Jonathan King jailed for child sex abuse". The Guardian. 21 November 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  38. ^ Clough, Sue; O'Neill, Sean (22 November 2001). "Pop veteran Jonathan King given seven years for abusing schoolboys". The Daily Telegraph (London).
  39. ^ Ronson, Jon (1 December 2001). "The fall of a pop impresario". The Guardian.
  40. ^ "Jailed DJ King hits at 'unfair' legal system". The Telegraph. 21 November 2001.
  41. ^ Rayner, Gordon (25 January 2012). "Leveson inquiry: Jonathan King claims his was miscarriage of justice victim". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  42. ^ Stott, Richard (26 December 2004). "Time to free King". Sunday Mirror. London. It is always dangerous to force the morality of one age on that of another... Many pop stars of the 1960s and 1970s had sex with under-age groupies. The difference is most of them were girls... However distasteful we might find his behaviour, his sentence was savage and pandered to the lowest instincts of popular opinion.
  43. ^ Barber, Lynn (20 October 2002). "King and I". The Observer. London.
  44. ^ "Jonathan King told to 'shut up'". BBC News. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  45. ^ "King abuse case 'to be reviewed". BBC News. 29 January 2006.
  46. ^ "Jonathan King wins right to appeal to Europe over his convictions for sexual assaults on teenage boys". Daily Mail (London). 10 November 2007.
  47. ^ "The great leveller". The Guardian. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  48. ^ "A newspaper, not a screws' paper". The Guardian. 7 May 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  49. ^ "BBC apology to Jonathan King after he is cut from repeat". The Daily Telegraph. London. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  50. ^ a b "Jonathan King: 'My book's an online hit, millions click on my videos. How about lifting the media ban on me?'". The Independent. 28 November 2011.
  51. ^ "Families' anger over Shipman song". BBC News. 12 July 2007.
  52. ^ Walker, Tim (28 November 2011). "Jonathan King: 'My book's an online hit, millions click on my videos. How about lifting the media ban on me?'". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  53. ^ "Jonathan King makes Vile Pervert: The Musical". The Telegraph. 15 May 2008.
  54. ^ Liddle, Rod (22 October 2011). "The King strikes back". The Spectator. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  55. ^ Sharp, Rob (12 May 2011). "Cannes Diary: From disgraced D-listers to ex-drug dealing singers, festival embraces them all". The Independent (London).
  56. ^ "64th Annual Cannes Film Festival The Tree of Live Photocall Pictures". Monsters and Critics. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  57. ^ "Cannes Film Festival 2013: Marilyn Monroe, Lesbian Weddings, Nuns of the Future and Occupy Movement - Entertainment & Stars". Ibtimes.co.uk. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  58. ^ http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cannes-film-festival-marilyn-monroe-lesbian-weddings-469154

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