| Joseph King | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupations | Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals Guitar |
| Associated acts | Labrosse King Canvas Murder My Sweet Deadbeat Darling Joseph King Trio Johnny Goudie |
Joseph John King is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known as the frontman for the bands Canvas and Deadbeat Darling.
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Joseph grew up in San Antonio, Texas. While a teenager he was a ballboy for the San Antonio Spurs. He began playing guitar and writing songs at age 12, and his early musical influences were Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Marley, and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album. Joseph received his first singing lessons from his older brother, who was also a singer-songwriter. He attended MacArthur High School, and graduated from Saint Mary's Hall, a private school, where he played basketball and took ballet classes.[1][2] Upon graduating from high school, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend Stanford University.[1] Originally majoring in Economics, King switched majors and graduated with a degree in Religious Studies.[1] White at Stanford, Joseph was friends with Fred Savage and Tiger Woods.
King met fellow musician Ben Rada at a coffee shop in Palo Alto and the two began jamming together. King and Rada, formed the band Canvas and toured the west coast club circuit for two years. After their band played the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas in 1999, King and Rada decided to relocate to King's native state.
The band settled in Austin, adding bassist Brad Byram, lead guitarist Julian Mandrake, and drummer Scott Thomas. The group released three albums and toured relentlessly, playing over 500 concerts, before breaking up in 2006.
As early as 2004 King and Billy Idol guitarist and record producer Mark Younger-Smith discussed forming a band together. Upon the breakup of Canvas, King and Younger-Smith began writing songs and formed a new band. Along with Canvas's drummer Scott Thomas, they recruited bassist Darryl Phillips, and keyboardist Stefano Intelisano. The group, which dubbed themselves Murder My Sweet after the 1944 mystery film, promptly wrote an album's worth of songs and began touring the Texas club circuit. While Canvas was a straightforward rock and roll band, Murder My Sweet had a heavier electronic sound. By late 2006, King left the project and was replaced by Aaron Barrera.
Simultaneously during his involvement in Murder My Sweet, Joseph formed another band. In addition to Joseph on lead vocals and guitar, the band included Julian Mandrake (guitar), Johnny Goudie (keyboard, backing vocals), Brad Byram (bass), and Josh Rodgers (drums). The band played a few shows in Texas, but was dissolved in 2006 when Joseph reformed the project in New York with a new set of musicians and named the band Deadbeat Darling.