Jonathan King

Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King, 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two (1982) and The Booker Prize Winner (1997), Beware the Monkey Man (2010, using the pen name Rex Kenny^[1]), and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far (2009).

King first came to prominence as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in 1965 when he wrote and sang "Everyone's Gone to the Moon," an international best seller.^[2] He went on to become a media entrepreneur, discovering and producing material for a number of artists, including Genesis, whom he signed up in 1967, giving them their name and producing their first album, From Genesis to Revelation.^[3] He ran Decca Records twice and created his own record label, UK Records, reported as the most successful independent label in the business, and worked with 10cc and the Bay City Rollers.^[4]

He also became known for a string of 1970s hits, such as "Una Paloma Blanca," "Sugar Sugar", "It Only Takes A Minute", "Johnny Reggae", "Lick A Smurp For Christmas" and "Loop di Love." Billboard reported in September 1972 that he had produced 10 of the Top 30 singles in the UK in the previous 12 months.^[5] Rod Liddle described him in 2010 as truly talented and fabulously cynical, someone who could "storm the pop charts at will, under a hundred different disguises ..."^[6]

King was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2001 for the sexual assault of five teenage boys between 1983 and 1989.^[4] He protested his innocence, arguing that he was unable to defend himself adequately because of the length of time that had passed.^[7] He was refused leave to appeal and was released on parole in 2005.^[7]

Early life and education

King was born in London, the first child of an American father and English mother. His father was the managing director of a textile firm, and died when King was nine. The family moved to Surrey, and King and his two brothers, Jamie and Andy, were raised near Dorking. He was sent to Stoke House boarding school and later Charterhouse, both private schools.^[8] He took six months off to travel round the world before taking up a place at Trinity College, Cambridge. During his travels he met a number of pop managers, including Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles—who were on tour in Hawaii; Derek Taylor, the Beatles' press officer; Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon and Tommy LiPuma, a record producer. He has an M.A. in English literature.^[9]

1960s–1970s

While he was still a first year undergraduate, King wrote and sang his first hit, "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", which he claimed sold over one million copies in the UK and 4.5 million around the world.^[10] It was later performed by Marlene Dietrich, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Bette Midler and many others; it won King a gold disc.^[11]

Whilst still at university, continuing his studies, King wrote and produced other hits, such as "It's Good News Week" by Hedgehoppers Anonymous, and, later, "Johnny Reggae" by The Piglets. During a visit to his old school, Charterhouse, he was handed a recording by a friend of one of the school bands, which included Peter Gabriel as their lead singer. He decided to produce them, choosing their name — Genesis — to mark the start of his production career.^[12] He produced their first album, From Genesis to Revelation, which was a flop at the time, partly because shops placed it in their religious music sections.^[3] Bassist Mike Rutherford later commented:

Jonathan King, for all his faults - he has a funny reputation in England - did give us a fantastic opportunity. Because in those days, in England, you couldn't get in the studio. I mean, now a new group can very easily get a chance to go and record a single, just something, you know, to show there's something going for them. In those days, to get any sort of record contract, was really magical. And he gave us a chance to do a whole record. You've got a bunch of musicians who were really amateur, could barely play well, were barely a group, and were able to go in one summer holiday and make a record.^[13]

Soon after graduating, he hosted a Saturday evening show on ITV, Good Evening; I'm Jonathan King, which was broadcast nationally for six months.^[14] He continued to perform and produce a large number of hits under a variety of names. Among these were "Let It All Hang Out" (a cover of the 1967 track by The Hombres), "It Only Takes A Minute" (a cover of the Tavares track), "Sugar, Sugar", "Loop di Love", "Hooked on a Feeling" (a cover of the track by B J Thomas), "Lazybones", "It's The Same Old Song" (originally by The Four Tops) and "The Sun Has Got His Hat On". He produced such hits as "Leap Up And Down And Wave Your Knickers In The Air" for St Cecilia and also acts such as the Bay City Rollers, singing all the backing vocals on their first hit, "Keep on Dancing". He was one of the original investors of the London production of the play The Rocky Horror Show with Michael White and produced the original cast soundtrack album in one long 48 hour session over an early weekend.

He was twice involved in running Decca Records at the request of the founder Sir Edward Lewis who had also been at Trinity, Cambridge many years earlier.^[15] In September 1972, he set up his own record label, UK Records,^[5] which had dozens of hits with artists such as 10cc, whom he also named,^[16] Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs "Seaside Shuffle", Roy C "Shotgun Wedding", Carl Malcolm with "Fattie Bum Bum", The First Class with "Beach Baby", Lobo "Baby I'd Love You To Want Me", and many others, sometimes three or four on the charts at the same time. King frequently performed under pseudonyms such as "Shag", "Sakkarin", "Bubblerock", "100 Ton and a Feather" and "Nemo", although, in 1975, a rendition under his own name of the song "Una Paloma Blanca (White Dove)" was awarded the Record of the Year trophy at the Ivor Novello Awards.^[17] Between 1965 and 1979, King had seventeen hits on the UK Singles Chart under a variety of pseudonyms and his own name, five of which made the Top 10.^[18] The Guardian reported he sold over 40 million records as a singer during his active career.^[19]

1980s–1990s

King moved on from the music industry in the 1980s to further his involvement in television and radio. He presented a daily talk show on New York's WMCA radio from 10–12 weekday mornings throughout 1980 and 1981 and regularly reported from the U.S. on Top of the Pops. A spinoff series, Entertainment USA, was very successful on BBC2, getting over nine million viewers each week. He also created the Youth TV show No Limits which topped the BBC ratings. He hosted the ITV programme The Ultra Quiz. King wrote a page in The Sun for eight years called "Bizarre USA" and his criticism of Band Aid and Live Aid provoked 18,500 letters in one day. He wrote regular features in many other newspapers and magazines such as the Mail and the Sunday Times. He also completed two published novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner.^[14] He continued some music projects, including the bizarre supergroup project "Gogmagog" with ex members of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and other classic rock bands.^[20]

In 1987, he suggested in his Sun column that the Pet Shop Boys had borrowed the melody of Cat Stevens's 1970 song "Wild World" for their UK #1 single "It's a Sin". King also released his own cover version of "Wild World" as a single, using a similar musical arrangement to "It's a Sin", in an effort to demonstrate his claims. The single flopped, while the Pet Shop Boys sued The Sun, accepting out-of-court damages from the newspaper that they donated to charity. He had done the same in the 1970s with his version of "He's So Fine" to the arrangement of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord", which was played in the plagiarism court case, which The Chiffons eventually won.

King wrote and hosted the BRIT Awards for the BBC in 1987 and he returned to produce them from 1990 to 1992. He produced "A Song for Europe", the BBC quest for a Eurovision Song Contest winner.^[14] The 1996 entrant by Gina G, "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit", went to number one in the UK Singles Chart, and the 1997 entry by Katrina and the Waves, "Love Shine a Light", won the contest.^[21] He is also responsible for the concept and format of the Record of the Year shows on British television, regularly shown in December, which continue online.^[9] At the end of the Thatcher government, he released "We Can't Let Maggie Go"; it did not chart.

In 1993, he founded The Tip Sheet, which continues online as a message board promoting unknown and unsigned musical acts.^[9]

In 1995/1996 he hosted the 10-12 daily show on Talk Radio in the UK, now TalkSport.

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."^[22]

2000s–2010s

King was arrested in November 2000 after a man approached Max Clifford, a British publicist, with allegations. He was released on £150,000 bail, £50,000 of it put up by Simon Cowell, the impresario, and was re-arrested, after the media publicity, in January 2001.^[23] He was tried in September 2001 and received a seven-year sentence for six offences against five boys aged 14–16 committed between 1983 and 1989.^[24] He was acquitted in a second case against him when a witness, whom King maintained he had never met, said that he had consented to sex and had been older at the time than he had initially told police.^[25]

Several commentators felt the prosecution was unfair, among them Charles Shaar Murray, Howard Jacobson, Lynn Barber, Richard Stott and Danny Hammill.^[26][27] King maintained his innocence, protesting that there was no statute of limitations for sex offences, which he said meant he had been unable to defend himself adequately because of the length of time that had passed; that there was no requirement to corroborate the allegations; and that the complainants were allowed to maintain their anonymity.^[25] He sought leave to appeal, which was refused in January 2003, and was released on parole in March 2005.^[28]

He continues to protest his innocence.

In January 2006 the BBC reported that the Criminal Cases Review Commission had agreed to examine his case. King argued that he was in New York in September 1985 when one of the incidents is alleged to have taken place in King's home in London. He said he had not presented this evidence at his trial because the date of the alleged offences on the charge sheet had been changed after he had completed his defense.^[29]

In 2008 it was reported that the European Court of Human Rights was considering his application for an appeal.^[30]

In June 2006 he spoke about the need for prison reform at a meeting of Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners, alongside former MP Jonathan Aitken.^[31]

In 2007 he produced a collection of mainly new songs, entitled Earth to King, one of which attracted criticism for appearing to defend the serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman.^[32]

In May 2008 he released a 96-minute film called Vile Pervert: The Musical, which included 21 characters played by King, caricaturing the police, media, PR industry, legal system, and his accusers. It has received over 60,000 full length views and downloads since release. ^[33]

In December 2009 he published his autobiography, 65 My Life So Far.^[34]

He released a new film, Me Me Me, in May 2011. It premiered in London's West End and screened at the Cannes Film Festival that year.^[35][36][37]

In October 2011, 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. Thompson stated: "We accept that this should not have happened and we would like to apologise for any upset this caused." King had accused the BBC of a "Stalinist" revision of history.^[38]

Single discography

References

External links