Jonathan King
Born	6 December 1944
Other names	Kenneth George King
Occupation	music producer
Website	www.kingofhits.com

Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King on 6 December 1944) is a British singer, TV personality, pop music producer, and serial abuser of young boys. He first came to prominence when he wrote and sang "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" in 1965, going on to become a record label executive and media entrepreneur, selling 40 million records under various pseudonyms.

In 2001 he was convicted of sexual abuse of boys aged 14 and 15 in the 1980s for which he served three and a half years in jail.

Contents 1 Chronological overview 1.1 1960s and 1970s 1.2 1980s and 1990s 1.3 2001-2004 (Conviction and jail) 1.4 2005 Onwards 2 References 3 External links

Chronological overview

1960s and 1970s

The child of an American father and an English mother, King was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He made his first recordings with Joe Meek, but those weren't released. As an undergraduate, he wrote and sang his first hit, Everyone's Gone to the Moon in 1965. Before graduating, he wrote and produced further hits such as It's Good News Week by "Hedgehoppers Anonymous" (video here), Johnny Reggae by The Piglets (video here) also discovering, producing and naming Genesis, whose founding members were also at Charterhouse.

Soon after King graduated, his Saturday evening ITV series Good Evening; I'm Jonathan King, was seen nationally for six months.

He ran Decca Records twice in the late 60s and late 70s, and in 1971, 1972 and 1973 was named Producer of the Year. He performed and produced many songs under different names. Among these were Let It All Hang Out, It Only Takes A Minute, Sugar Sugar, Loop di Love, Hooked On A Feeling, Lazybones and The Sun Has Got His Hat On. He produced The Bay City Rollers and sang most of their first hit, "Keep on Dancing", a video of which can be found here. He backed The Rocky Horror Show and produced the original cast album.

His own label, UK Records had hits with 10cc (whom he named ), Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs, Roy C, Carl Malcolm (Fattie Bum Bum), First Class (Beach Baby), Lobo and St Cecilia. King usually performed under pseudonyms, such as "Shag", "Sakkarin", "Bubblerock", "100 Ton and a Feather" and "Nemo" (Latin for No-one), although in 1975, a rendition under his own name of "Una Paloma Blanca" was named Record of the Year at the Ivor Novello awards. He had another Top 40 hit in 1978 under his own name with a song titled "One for Me, One for You".

In 2001, the satirical journal Private Eye parodied the title of his first hit with a caption showing King singing "Everyone's Gone to the Police". The Mail on Sunday also quoted from the chorus of "Una Paloma Blanca": "No-one can take my freedom away".

1980s and 1990s

King presented his own daily radio show from 10-12 on New York's WMCA throughout 1980 and started doing regular reports from the US on Top of the Pops. These developed into Entertainment USA, a successful BBC2 series. He also created and produced No Limits.

During the 1980s, he wrote a column in The Sun for eight years; Bizarre USA. He has written regular features in many other newspapers and magazines, and has two published novels.

King wrote and hosted the BRIT Awards for the BBC in 1987 and he wrote and produced them in 1990, 1991 and 1992. In 1995, he took over A Song For Europe, the BBC quest for a Eurovision Song Contest winner. The 1996 entrant by Gina G "Just A Little Bit" went to No1 and the 1997 entrant Katrina and the Waves' "Love Shine a Light" won the contest. He was also responsible for the Record of the Year shows on British television, regularly shown at Christmas.

In 1993, he formed The Tip Sheet, a music weekly publication, which continues online as a message board discussing and promoting unknown and unsigned musical acts.

From September 1995, he presented a programme on Talk Radio UK from 10-12 every weekday morning which lasted six months.

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 Prime Minister Tony Blair . He went on to release a compilation tribute CD to the Harry Potter phenomenon in 1999, and recorded the original version of "Who Let The Dogs Out?" under the name Fatt Jakk and His Pack Of Pets .

2001-2004 (Conviction and jail)

In the early 2000s, King was exposed as a serial abuser of young boys, and has faced various charges. Initially questioned and charged with sexual offences in November 2000; following subsequent publicity, a dozen people came forward accusing King of similar offences and further charges were laid. In late 2001, King was convicted of 6 charges committed between 1982 and 1987; one buggery, one attempted buggery, and four indecent assaults on boys aged 14 and 15.

King met some of his victims by cruising the streets of London in his Rolls Royce, stopping and asking boys if they knew who he was, and if they would like a lift. If they accepted, they would then be driven to a local car park, forest, or invited to his Bayswater home. After showing the boys pictures of naked women, including Samantha Fox, he would mention that it would be ok if they would like to masturbate, and the offences he was convicted of followed.

The boys involved say they have been scarred for life by King's actions, and in summing up, Judge David Paget said "This was a serious breach of trust. You used your fame and success to attract adolescent and impressionable boys."

King was released on parole in March 2005, half way through his sentence. He still maintains his innocence, and was described by Jon Ronson as "completely unable to accept he has done anything wrong".

2005 Onwards

On his release he stated his intention to return to the music and entertainment industry, and played a role in supporting the US band Orson, whom he discovered on MySpace. He promoted them in his magazine "the Tip Sheet", and they later released successful singles and album in the UK. His 1970 hit Let It All Hang Out was revived in 2007 when Fosters used the song for their Twist Lager TV campaign, you can see the video here.

In 2007 he released a collection of mainly new songs, entitled "Earth to King" and put several videos on many online sites, including YouTube, My Space, and Google Video; you can see a collection of videos here. He attracted controversy in July 2007 relating to a song he penned which was seen to defend the serial killer Harold Shipman.

References

External links

• JK site
• King Discography
• UK Records discography by Beautiful-Records.com