Kim Fowley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kim Fowley (2012)

Kim Vincent Fowley (born July 21, 1939 in Los Angeles ; † January 15, 2015 there ) was an American music producer , songwriter and musician .

Life

Kim Fowley was born in 1939 to the actor couple Douglas Fowley and Shelby Payne (1917-2000) in Los Angeles, California. His career in the music industry was as varied as it was long. Commercial successes were mostly denied him; Perhaps his best-known product was the women's rock band The Runaways (with Joan Jett and Lita Ford ), which he managed in the 1970s.

In the 1960s, Fowley produced and wrote hundreds of songs in a wide variety of styles, including bubblegum , girl group , folk , country and psychedelic rock . His three biggest successes as a producer were Alley-Oop by The Hollywood Argyles (No. 1 on the US hit parade 1960); Nut Rocker by B. Bumble & the Stingers (No. 1 in Great Britain 1962) and Popsicles and Icicles by The Murmaids , No. 3 in USA 1963.

Fowley lived in London for a while in the mid-1960s, working with then-unknown artists Cat Stevens , a Slade preform called The N'Betweens, Soft Machine (he produced their first single) and the Lancasters (with Ritchie Blackmore ) . In 1965 he wrote The Trip, probably the first rock song about a psychedelic experience with LSD . The single was largely ignored in the US, but was a minor hit in Europe and one of the first releases on the Island Records label . In 1966 he produced the novelty hit They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa! of Napoleon XIV . He is one of the guest musicians (on the megaphone) on Frank Zappa's first record Freak Out! . In 1967 he changed the name of Roger Chapman's band from Roaring Sixties to Family .

1969 produced Fowley I'm Back and I'm Proud , the critically-acclaimed comeback album of Gene Vincent , and the debut album of Warren Zevon . Between 1969 and 1971 he co-wrote some of the songs on the albums Untitled (1970) and Farther Along (1971) with his friend Skip Battin , then bassist for The Byrds . One of these songs, America's Great National Pastime , was even released as a single, but its Americana twist didn't go over well.

He wrote songs for artists as diverse as KISS , Helen Reddy , Slade , Alice Cooper , Leon Russell and Kris Kristofferson . Together with John Cale he produced the debut album for the cult band The Modern Lovers .

His solo albums have consistently sold poorly, but albums like I'm Bad and International Heroes are viewed as pioneers of punk rock . Some of his new wave recordings from the late 1970s are cited as precursors of the electroclash genre.

Most recently, Fowley lived in California and worked as a producer. Steven Van Zandt invited him in 2005 to work alongside Joan Jett, Andrew Loog Oldham (ex-manager and producer of the Rolling Stones ) and others on his radio station Underground Garage . Fowley presented a four-hour program every Saturday and Sunday. He died on January 15, 2015 at his home in Hollywood at the age of 75 of complications from bladder cancer .

Recordings produced by Fowley (selection)

  • 1960 The Hollywood Argyles: Alley Oop - US # 1
  • 1961 B. Bumble and the Stingers: Bumble Boogie - US # 21
  • 1962 B. Bumble and the Stingers: Nut Rocker - US # 23, UK # 1
  • 1962 The Rivingtons : Papa Oom Mow Mow - US # 48 (4th place as Surfin 'Bird by The Trashmen 1963)
  • 1963 The Murmaids : Popcicles and Icicles - US # 3
  • 1966 Napoleon XIV: They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa! - UK # 4
  • 1969 Gene Vincent: 'I'm Back And I'm Proud!' (LP)
  • 1976 The Modern Lovers: The Modern Lovers (LP)
  • 1977 Helen Reddy: Ear Candy (LP)
  • 1977 Vicky Leandros : Vicky Leandros (LP)
  • div. from The Runaways
  • 2003 Various Artists: Incredible But True - the Kim Fowley Story (Ace Records)

swell

  • Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits

Web links

Commons : Kim Fowley  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Randy Lewis: Kim Fowley, the eccentric LA producer-manager who created the Runaways, is dead at 75. In: Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2015 (accessed January 16, 2015).
  2. ↑ Ben Ratliff: Kim Fowley, Rock Producer and Svengali, Dies at 75. In: The New York Times of January 19, 2015 (accessed January 20, 2015).
personal data
SURNAME Fowley, Kim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fowley, Kim Vincent (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American record producer, songwriter and musician
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 2015
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States