Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King, 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, impresario, and producer. He came to prominence as a Cambridge University undergraduate in 1965 when he wrote and sang, "Everyone's Gone to the Moon," and went on to become an executive and media entrepreneur, writing and producing material for a number of artists.
King was sentenced to seven years in prison in November 2001 after
being convicted of sexually assaulting five teenage boys, aged 14
to 16, between 1983 and 1989. He was refused permission to appeal
in January 2003 by the Court of Appeal in London, and was released
on parole in March 2005.
As of February 2008, a further appeal was
reported to be before the European Court of Human Rights
. King has maintained his innocence, arguing
that he was unable to defend himself adequately because of the
length of time that had passed since the incidents.
Early life and education
Born in
London to an American father and English mother, King was educated
at Charterhouse
School
(with Max Hastings and
Jonathan Dimbleby) and Trinity College,
Cambridge
, where he graduated with an M.A. in English
literature. His first record purchase was '
Singing the Blues' by
Guy Mitchell.
Career
1960s and 1970s
As an undergraduate, he wrote and sang his first hit, "Everyone's
Gone to the Moon", in 1965 which sold over 4 million copies and was
a worldwide hit. Before graduating, he wrote and produced further
hits such as "It's Good News Week" by
Hedgehoppers Anonymous and later
"Johnny Reggae" by The Piglets, and also discovered, named and
produced
Genesis, whose founding
members had also been at Charterhouse and whom he named to
commemorate the start of his production career. Soon after
graduating, his Saturday evening
ITV series
Good Evening; I'm Jonathan King, was broadcast nationally
for six months.
Under various different names he performed and produced a large
number of songs. 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 Wave Your Knickers In The
Air" for St Cecilia and also the
Bay
City Rollers; singing backing vocals on their first hit, "Keep
on Dancing". He was one of the investors of the London production
of the play
The Rocky Horror
Show and recorded the original cast
album.
His own
record label,
UK Records had dozens of hits with artistes such
as
10cc, whom he also named,
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 "
Una Paloma Blanca" was named Record of the
Year at the
Ivor Novello
Awards.
In April 1978, standing under his real name (Kenneth George King)
as a Royalist candidate he polled 2,350 votes (5.3%) in the
Epsom and Ewell
by-election.
1980s and 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 US on
Top of the Pops.A spinoff series,
Entertainment USA, was very successful on
BBC Two, getting over 9 million viewers. He also
created the Youth TV show
No Limits which topped the
BBC ratings. 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. King also completed two published
novels,
Bible Two and
The Booker
Prize Winner. 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.
In 1987, he accused the
Pet Shop Boys
of plagiarising 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 Pet Shop Boys sued King, winning
out-of-court damages, which they donated to charity.
King wrote and hosted the
BRIT Awards
for
BBC Television in 1987. After
1989's uninspired
Samantha Fox/
Mick Fleetwood production, he took over and
wrote and produced them from 1990-1992.He produced
A Song For Europe, the BBC quest for
a
Eurovision Song Contest
winner.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.
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. 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, a music weekly publication, which also continues
online as a message board discussing and promoting unknown and
unsigned musical acts. In 1995/1996 he hosted the 10-12 daily show
on Talk Radio in the UK, now TalkSport.
In 1997 he was awarded
the BPI Man Of The
Year Award in a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel
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."
King was also an early fan of the
Harry
Potter books, releasing a tribute
CD in 1999.
2000s
In 2007 he released a collection of mainly new songs, entitled
Earth to King. One of these attracted criticism in July
2007, because it was seen as defending the world's most prolific
serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman. In May 2008, he released
a full length "comedy documentary" feature called, "Vile Pervert:
The Musical," which includes 21 characters all portrayed by
King.
Conviction and imprisonment
In November 2000, King was charged with sexual offences dating back
to the early 1970s. After the case attracted publicity, several
more men came forward with complaints, and further charges were
laid. Following a trial in September 2001, he was convicted and
received a seven-year prison sentence for four
indecent assaults against 14 and 15 year
old boys, and two offences of
buggery and
attempted buggery against two boys of 14 committed between 1983 and
1989. He was released on parole in March 2005, halfway through the
sentence.
On his release he stated his intention to return to the music and
entertainment industries.
An appeal against the convictions has been
reported to be before the European Court of Human Rights.
References
- Eder, Bruce. “Jonathan_King” at allmusic.com, 2009 Macrovision Corp, 2009,
accessed 18 June 2009
- Ronson, Jon,
The fall of a pop impresario, The
Guardian, 1 December 2001.
- Jonathan King jailed for child sex abuse,
The Guardian, November 21, 2001; Barber, Lynn. The King and I, The Observer, October
20, 2002.
- King loses appeal bid, BBC News, January 24,
2003.
- Silver, James. Convicted Sex Pervert Jonathan King Protests His
Innocence, Sky News, February 27, 2008; also see Jonathan King wins right to appeal to Europe over
his convictions for sexual assaults on teenage boys, Daily
Mail, November 10, 2007.
- Jonathan King found guilty of abuse, Press
Assocation, November 21, 2001.
- Scotland on Sunday; No Relation
1 March 1998
- Metzer, Greg (2008). “Rock Band Name Origins: The
Stories Of 240 Groups And Performers”. McFarland
& Company. ISBN 0786438185. Accessed as: Cohen,Claire.
“The Boll Weevils, the Beatals, The Arkansas
Rollers - Now that's what I call music”. Daily Mail, 4 June 2009.
Retrieved on 18 June 2009
- O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest — The
Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN
978-1-84442-994-3
- Evening Standard report
- Jonathan King jailed for child sex abuse,
The Guardian, 21 November 2001.
- Jonathan King freed, The Guardian, 29
March 2005.
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