Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, music entrepreneur, and former TV and radio presenter. King first entered the music industry with his 1965 single "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", which reached no 4 in the UK and no 17 in the USA. He followed this with several record releases, of which four made the UK Singles Chart Top 10 in the 1970s. Many were "novelty" records credited to pseudonymous bands such as Babies On Razorblades. In parallel with his own recording career, in the late 1960s and 1970s King produced other acts. He discovered and named Genesis and he produced the Bay City Rollers' first single, among others, before founding his own record label, UK Records, in 1972. A significant signing was 10cc who were with the label for their first hits. In the 1980s and 1990s King became more involved in media work and regularly appeared as a presenter of British television programmes including Entertainment USA. King was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2001, after being found guilty of committing sexual offences against five boys aged 14 and 15 during the 1980s. He was released on parole in 2005. King has always maintained that he is not guilty of the offences which led to his convictions.
Links To Peel
Jonathan King - Incredible Stories 20
Jonathan King paying tribute to Peel at 1:57 of the video
Peel knew Jonathan King since the 60's, when King was presenting a TV show on the BBC. On his 04 February 1968 BBC Radio One show, Peel admitted stealing King's Steppenwolf's LP:
- "And I'd like to say thank you to Jonathan King, famed TV personality, from whom I've just nicked an LP from Steppenwolf, who are a Los Angeles groupwe may hear on the programme perhaps next week if the LP is as nice as the sleeve . And also he came in with Kenny Everett, whose programme precedes ours."
Through the 70's, Peel would play many of Jonathan King's produced and discovered acts such as Genesis and 10cc on his shows. In the early 80's, the duo would work together on Top Of The Pops, where Peel would be in the studio and Jonathan King abroad either in mainland Europe or North America counting down the charts from those areas. Peel was not a fan of Jonathan King's solo music career and on TV Hell: Rock Bottom in 1992, he proclaimed:
- "If there's been one name in the world of trash pop that set the gauge rising more readily than any other, it must be that of a man who in the age more enlightened than ours, would have been burnt at the stake. I'm talking about Jonathan King. I wish he was still making records. I really do."
However Peel did play a Jonathan King record, a cover of Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A Changing from the pseudonym name of Babies On Razorblades on 31 March 1981. After the record was played, Peel mentioned not knowing anything about the artist. There are questions on whether Peel would have played the record on his show if he had known that Jonathan King was the man behind the name. Nonetheless Peel praised King's personality on a BBC Radio 2 documentary called Jonathan King at 50, broadcast in 1994 to commerate King's 50th birthday. After Peel's death, Jonathan King paid tribute on his YouTube video, where he told the story on how Peel and him saw Courtney Love at the Reading Festival.
Shows Played
John Peel's Babies On Razorblades - The Times They Are A Changing
1981
- 31 March 1981: 'The Times They Are A Changing' (under the name of Babies On Razorblades)
1984
- 05 January 1984 (TOTP): Let It All Hang Out (clip from 29/01/70)
Others
- TV Hell: Rock Bottom: Everybody's Gone To The Moon / It Only Takes A Minute (under the name of 100 Ton And A Feather) / Una Paloma Blanca