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Kim Fowley

February 10, 2023

Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been described as "one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll", as well as "a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream".[1]

Kim Fowley
Fowley in 2012
Background information
Birth nameKim Vincent Fowley
Born(1939-07-21)July 21, 1939
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 15, 2015(2015-01-15) (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Record producer, songwriter, musician, impresario
Years active1959–2015
Websitekimfowley.com

Early life

Born in Los Angeles, California,[2] Fowley was the son of character actor Douglas Fowley and actress Shelby Payne.[3] His parents later divorced and Payne married William Friml, son of composer Rudolf Friml.[4] Fowley attended University High School at the same time as singers Jan Berry and Dean Torrence (later of Jan and Dean fame), Bruce Johnston (later of the Beach Boys), and Nancy Sinatra, as well as actors Ryan O'Neal, James Brolin, and Sandra Dee.

Career

In 1957, he was hospitalized with polio and, on his release, became manager and publicist for local band the Sleepwalkers that included Johnston, drummer Sandy Nelson and, occasionally, Phil Spector.[5][6] He spent some time in the armed forces and, by his own account, worked in the sex industry in Los Angeles in the late 1950s.[7] In 1959 he began working in the music industry in various capacities for both Alan Freed and Berry Gordy. His first record as producer was "Charge" by the Renegades, a group comprising Johnston, Nelson, Nik Venet and Richard Podolor.[5] He promoted records for the duo Skip & Flip (Skip Battin and Gary S. Paxton) including the #11 hit "Cherry Pie".[8]

1960s

During the early 1960s, Fowley was involved as co-producer/co-publisher with a string of successful records produced in Los Angeles. With Gary S. Paxton he recorded the novelty song "Alley Oop", which reached # 1 on the charts in 1960 and was credited to the non-existent group the Hollywood Argyles. In 1961 he co-produced the instrumental "Like, Long Hair", arranged by Paxton, which became a #38 hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders. He arranged "Nut Rocker" for B. Bumble and the Stingers, which became a # 1 hit in the UK in 1962 and talent scouted "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow", a #48 hit for the Rivingtons. The following year he produced "Popsicles and Icicles" by The Murmaids, which reached #3 in the charts in 1963 and which was written by a pre-Bread David Gates, then a session musician and songwriter who had met Fowley while Kim was hitchhiking in Los Angeles.[1][9]

During the mid-1960s, Fowley publicized/consulted singer P.J. Proby and relocated for a time to London, England.[2] Fowley wrote the lyrics for the song "Portobello Road", the B-side of Cat Stevens' first single, "I Love My Dog".[2] He produced a Them spin-off band led by two ex-Them members, brothers Pat and Jackie McAuley (who were only allowed to use the band name Other Them in the UK, but called themselves Them on the European continent, releasing an album called Them Belfast Gypsies and a single "Let's Freak Out" under the name Freaks of Nature); an early incarnation of Slade known as the N'Betweens; Soft Machine (he produced "Love Makes Sweet Music", their first single); and the Lancasters, an instrumental rock group featuring a young Ritchie Blackmore. He worked with an up-and-coming band, the Farinas, and renamed them "Family".[2]

In London around 1967 Fowley collaborated with The Seekers guitarist/arranger Keith Potger. Together (with Potger writing under the nom de plume John Martin) they wrote the lyrics to "Emerald City". Potger has said the song was originally quite unlike the eventual Seekers single, and that he heavily "Seeker-ized" the arrangement before presenting it to the group. The tune was based on the "Ode To Joy" theme from Beethoven's ninth ("Choral") symphony.

Fowley worked on occasion as a recording artist in the 1960s, issuing albums such as Love Is Alive and Well.[2] In 1965, he wrote and produced a song about the psychedelic experience, "The Trip". In 1966 Fowley and Gail Sloatman (later Gail Zappa) recorded a spoken word single as "Bunny and Bear".[10][11] The record is a satire of Sonny and Cher.[12]

He was credited for "hypophone" on the Mothers of Invention's first album Freak Out! When asked about this band leader Frank Zappa later said "The hypophone is his mouth, 'cause all that ever comes out of it is hype."[13] Other singles by Fowley as a recording artist included "Animal Man", during the song he remarks "Its too dirty, it'll be banned" from his popular 1968 album Outrageous. All his efforts as a solo artist since 1970 have become cult items, both in reissue and bootleg formats.

In 1968, Fowley joined forces with a young band from Topanga Canyon California, St John Green, to produce their only album containing songs, musical soundtracks, comedy and dark poetry. The band members were: Ed Bissot (bass), Bill Kirkland (guitars), Vic Sabino (vocals, harmonica and percussion), Michael 'Papabax' Baxter (keyboards, arranger), and Shelly Scott (drums). The album was engineered by Michael Lloyd. Fowley later claimed it to be "one of the great lost records...Somebody will reissue it someday and people will start crying and jacking off and smoking dope to it. It's a great record. There's only a handful of records that I've made that are great."[14] The album was released by MGM on the Flick Disc label, but the group disbanded soon afterwards.[15][16]

He is credited with being the inspiration behind promoter John Brower's call to John Lennon that resulted in the last-minute appearance of the Plastic Ono Band at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival on September 13, 1969, where Fowley was the MC. At this event, Fowley invited the audience to light matches and lighters to welcome a nervous John Lennon to the stage.[17]

In 1969, Fowley produced the album I'm Back and I'm Proud for Gene Vincent.[2] He co-wrote for Warren Zevon's first solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive.[18] Fowley collaborated with his friend Skip Battin during Battin's membership as bassist with the Byrds on a number of songs which appeared on their early 1970's albums: "The Hungry Planet", "You All Look Alike", "Tunnel of Love", "Citizen Kane", "Absolute Happiness", "Precious Kate", and "America's Great National Pastime".[2] The latter song was released as a single in late 1971. When Battin moved on to the New Riders of the Purple Sage in 1974, Fowley and Battin co-wrote five songs for the New Riders: "On the Amazon", "Big Wheels", "Singing Cowboy", "Neon Rose" and "Strangers on a Train".[2]

1970s

In 1973, Fowley produced three recordings by Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids for the film American Graffiti (1973). These songs were "At the Hop", "Louie Louie" and "She's So Fine". He co-wrote songs for KISS, Helen Reddy, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell and Kris Kristofferson. He made recordings with Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, which were eventually released in 1981 as The Original Modern Lovers. Fowley's tracks were not included on the original versions of the album The Modern Lovers but some were included on later CD reissues.[19]

In 1974, Fowley placed an advertisement in local fanzine Who Put the Bomp looking for female performers. He hoped to form an all-female group that he could produce and would perform his songs, but no one responded to the advert. In 1975, he met the teenage guitarist Joan Jett who expressed interest in forming an all-female band. Less than two weeks later, he met 15-year-old drummer Sandy West who introduced herself outside of the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood, California. West told Fowley of her aspirations to form an all-female band after playing in otherwise all-male groups. This meeting led to Fowley giving West Jett's phone number. The two met and began playing together at West's home the following week. A short time later Fowley recruited Lita Ford, Cherie Currie, and Jackie Fox. They eventually became the Runaways.[2] While he did produce some of their albums and contributed lyrics to songs, the band was primarily responsible for creating their own music. The group severed their ties with Fowley in 1977.[2]

Fowley co-wrote two Kiss songs "King of the Night Time World" and "Do You Love Me?" with Paul Stanley and producer Bob Ezrin. Both appeared on Kiss' 1976 album Destroyer.

In 1978, Fowley formed the Orchids, another all-female rock band, with Laurie McAllister, the last bassist from The Runaways, and Sandy Fury,[20] a 13-year-old rock prodigy on rhythm guitar and vocals.

In 1979, Fowley signed new artists, such as Tommy Rock, the Popsicles, and the Orchids. Fowley promoted "Kim Fowley Night" featuring these bands at the Whisky a Go Go. Fowley brought Stiv Bators & the Dead Boys, the Popsicles, and the Orchids into Leon Russell's Cherokee Recording Studio in Hollywood to record "LA, LA (I'm on a Hollywood High)".

1980s

In the 1980s Fowley moved to Australia where he announced that he was "looking for the new Beatles or ABBA". His search turned up power pop band Beathoven who were still under a recording contract with EMI. Changing their name to the Innocents, he secured a new record deal with Trafalgar Records and produced several songs for the group. They too became a cult band in later bootlegs/reissues. Fowley produced the first demos for the iconic power pop band, Candy, which featured Gilby Clarke and Kyle Vincent. Vincent was Fowley's personal assistant. Producer Fowley and attorney David Chatfield recorded the first album for Steel Breeze at Rusk studios in Hollywood and got Steel Breeze their recording contract with RCA. Casey Kasem, on the edition of March 12, 1983, of American Top 40, describes how Fowley discovered Steel Breeze while going through approximately 1200 demo tapes that were about to be discarded by a local Hollywood nightclub, Madame Wong's. "You Don't Want Me Anymore" was the first single from the band's self-titled album and quickly jumped into the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 supported by a video that was a favorite of early MTV, and peaked at # 16. The next single, "Dreamin' Is Easy", also made it into the Top 40.

In 1984, still owning rights to the name "the Runaways", Fowley rebuilt the image around Gayle Welch, an unknown teenager from New Zealand. Adding Denise Prior, Missy Bonilla (then a typist for Denny Diante at what was CBS Records) and Cathy DiAmber (Catherine Dombrowski) with David Carr on keyboards, a Chicago guitarist Bill Millay and numerous session musicians. Fowley, assisted by New Zealander Glenn Holland, sought to cash in on the fame of the former Runaways members who had gone on to significant success in their individual solo careers. In 1985, he returned to the United States and recorded further songs with the Innocents' David Minchin.[21]

In 1986, Fowley spotted the band Shanghai (consisting of Eric Leach and Taz Rudd of Symbol Six, Brent Muscat of Faster Pussycat, Patrick Muzingo, and Todd Muscat of Decry) at the Troubadour. After seeing their performance he asked, "Are you ready to make a record?!" They immediately moved in with Fowley and began writing and recording songs. David Libert, Alice Cooper's ex-road manager and agent for George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, was recruited to come in to handle the day-to-day babysitting chores. Shanghai played the reopening of the Whisky a Go Go in April 1986 with Guns N' Roses and Faster Pussycat.[22] Their last show was at the Scream in Los Angeles in 1987.

2000s

Fowley is featured in Mayor of the Sunset Strip, a 2003 documentary about the disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer.

Also in 2003, Fowley made a return trip to London, England, where he made an in-store appearance at Intoxica Records on Portobello Road and curated and performed an evening of music and entertainment at the Dirty Water Club at its then base at the Boston Music Room in North London.

Fowley became an experimental filmmaker after the DVD release of Mayor of the Sunset Strip. His written and directed works include: Black Room Doom, Dollboy: The Movie, Satan of Silverlake, The Golden Road to Nowhere, Frankenstein Goes Surfing, Trailer Park's On Fire and Jukebox California. Video clips/scenes from these movies can be seen on YouTube and Myspace, and feature a cast of regulars including but not limited to musical oddities such as the Fabulous Miss Wendy, Giddle Partridge, Richard Rogers (Crazy White Man) and Clown Porn Queen Hollie Stevens.

Fowley released the 21-track solo album Adventures in Dreamland on WEED/Innerstate Records in 2004. It contained the songs "Mayor of the Sunset Strip," "Terrors in Tinseltown," and "Ballad of Phil Spector."[23]

In 2008, Fowley was reunited with Cherie Currie at Harry Houdini's mansion in Los Angeles.[24] He played three dozen gigs between June 2007 and February 2009 as the act Crazy White Man, a duo featuring him on vocals and Richard Rogers on guitar. The bulk of the Crazy White Man shows took place during 2008 and included the Tribute to Gidget Gein, which raised funds for Gidget's Hollywood Forever memorial.[25]

Capitol re-released several of his titles, and director Guy Ritchie used his song "The Trip" in the 2008 film RocknRolla. Fowley was regularly heard on Sirius Satellite Radio with a four-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays.

Currie wrote a memoir of her time in the Runaways, which was turned into the film, The Runaways, released on March 19, 2010. The film featured Michael Shannon as Fowley, alongside Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as Currie.

In 2012, Fowley won the Special Jury Prize at the 13th Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his two feature projects – Golden Road to Nowhere and Black Room Doom.

2010s

In his last years, Fowley worked on writing and publishing his autobiography, which he divided between three distinct books. He released the first volume of his autobiography, Lord of Garbage, published by Kicks Books, in 2012. It covers the years 1939–1969 and describes his early childhood and beginning years in the music business. The second volume of his autobiography was intended to be called Planet Pain and to cover the years 1970–1994. The last volume was intended to be finished on his deathbed and to be released posthumously because, as the 2010s began, Fowley was terminally ill.[26] On September 24, 2014, Fowley married longtime girlfriend and music executive Kara Wright-Fowley, in a private ceremony in Los Angeles.

Death

Fowley died of bladder cancer in Hollywood, California on January 15, 2015, at the age of 75.[27] He is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[28][29]

Sexual misconduct allegations

In a 2001 interview, Michael Steele of The Bangles claimed Fowley fired her from The Runaways for refusing his sexual advances.[30]

In July 2015, six months after Fowley's death, Jackie Fuchs (who had performed under the stage name Jackie Fox with The Runaways) claimed that Fowley had raped her in 1975 during a New Year's Eve party while he was involved with the band.[31] Fox also alleged that Joan Jett and Cherie Currie witnessed the rape. Jett and Currie both denied seeing the incident, but songwriter Kari Krome, as well as other bystanders who did not intervene, have corroborated it.[32] Look Away, a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry features Fuchs' story.[33]

Selected discography

Bibliography

  • Fowley, Kim (2012). Lord of Garbage. New York: Kicks Books. ISBN 978-0965977760.

References

  1. ^ a b Ankeny, Jason. "Kim Fowley Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 486. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  3. ^ Lewis, Randy (January 15, 2015). "L.A. record producer-manager Kim Fowley dies at 75". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ McDonnell, Evelyn (2013). Queen of Noise: The Real Story of The Runaways. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306820397.
  5. ^ a b . Psacard.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  6. ^ "Kim Fowley". Kimfowley.net. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  7. ^ "Kim Fowley: You Got Off Easy Knowing Me Now". L.A. Record. March 15, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  8. ^ "Kim Fowley". Technicolor Web of Sound. from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  9. ^ . Ebni.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  10. ^ Grow, Kory (October 7, 2015). "Frank Zappa's Widow Gail Zappa Dead at 70". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  11. ^ Kubernik, Harvey; Calamar, Scott (June 23, 2009). Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 9781402765896 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ . YouTube. January 31, 2021. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  13. ^ [1][dead link]
  14. ^ Stax, Mike (2001). "Interview with Kim Fowley". Ugly Things. No. 19.
  15. ^ . 60s Garage Bands.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  16. ^ "St. John Green". Head Heritage. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  17. ^ Grow, Kory (January 15, 2015). "Kim Fowley, Runaways Producer and L.A. Rock Icon, Dead at 75". Rolling Stone. ISSN 0035-791X.
  18. ^ Zevon, Crystal (2007). I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06076-345-9.
  19. ^ Mitchell, Tim (1999). There's Something About Jonathan: Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. London, UK: Peter Owen. ISBN 0-7206-1076-1.
  20. ^ "Sandy Fury". IMDb.
  21. ^ "The Innocents". ReverbNation. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  22. ^ "Guns N' Roses Venues : 1986". W-axl-rose.com. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  23. ^ "Adventures in Dreamland - Kim Fowley". AllMusic.
  24. ^ Lecaro, Lina (June 17, 2008). . LA Weekly. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2009.
  25. ^ Kit, Borys. "2008 Current Activities". Kim Fowley.net. Retrieved February 6, 2009.
  26. ^ "Offbeat L.A.: Kim Fowley - Bad Boy With a Heart of Gold (Last Stop Before the Neon Graveyard)". The LA Beat. October 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  27. ^ McDonald, Soraya Nadia (January 16, 2015). "Kim Fowley, creator of The Runaways, dead at 75". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  28. ^ McDonnell, Evelyn (January 23, 2015). "Kim Fowley's Hollywood funeral draws stars, L.A. music insiders". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  29. ^ "Joan Jett, Rodney Bingenheimer & More Pay Respects to Kim Fowley at Hollywood Funeral". Billboard. January 22, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  30. ^ Spitz, Marc (2001). We Got The Neutron Bomb. New York City: Three Rivers Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0609807743.
  31. ^ "The Runaways' Jackie Fuchs claims she was raped by manager Kim Fowley in 1975". The Guardian. July 9, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  32. ^ Cherkis, Jason (July 9, 2015). "The Lost Girls". Huffington Post. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  33. ^ Mangan, Lucy (September 13, 2021). "Look Away review – horrifying stories of abuse at the hands of male rock stars". The Guardian. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  34. ^ "John York on Outsight Radio Hours". Internet Archive. Retrieved January 16, 2015.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kim Fowley.
  • Official website  
  • Kim Fowley discography at Discogs  
  • Kim Fowley at Find a Grave  
  • Valcourt, Keith (September 2013). . Rocker Magazine. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. (archived 2013)
  • Cammick, Murray (March 11, 2015). "Kim Fowley: Stranded in Paradise". Audioculture.co.nz.

February 10, 2023
fowley, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, april, 2018, learn,. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Kim Fowley news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Kim Vincent Fowley July 21 1939 January 15 2015 was the American record producer songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s and managed The Runaways in the 1970s He has been described as one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock amp roll as well as a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream 1 Kim FowleyFowley in 2012Background informationBirth nameKim Vincent FowleyBorn 1939 07 21 July 21 1939Los Angeles California U S DiedJanuary 15 2015 2015 01 15 aged 75 Los Angeles California U S GenresPop rock glam rock protopunkOccupation s Record producer songwriter musician impresarioYears active1959 2015Websitekimfowley wbr com Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 1960s 2 2 1970s 2 3 1980s 2 4 2000s 2 5 2010s 3 Death 4 Sexual misconduct allegations 5 Selected discography 6 Bibliography 7 References 8 External linksEarly life EditBorn in Los Angeles California 2 Fowley was the son of character actor Douglas Fowley and actress Shelby Payne 3 His parents later divorced and Payne married William Friml son of composer Rudolf Friml 4 Fowley attended University High School at the same time as singers Jan Berry and Dean Torrence later of Jan and Dean fame Bruce Johnston later of the Beach Boys and Nancy Sinatra as well as actors Ryan O Neal James Brolin and Sandra Dee Career EditIn 1957 he was hospitalized with polio and on his release became manager and publicist for local band the Sleepwalkers that included Johnston drummer Sandy Nelson and occasionally Phil Spector 5 6 He spent some time in the armed forces and by his own account worked in the sex industry in Los Angeles in the late 1950s 7 In 1959 he began working in the music industry in various capacities for both Alan Freed and Berry Gordy His first record as producer was Charge by the Renegades a group comprising Johnston Nelson Nik Venet and Richard Podolor 5 He promoted records for the duo Skip amp Flip Skip Battin and Gary S Paxton including the 11 hit Cherry Pie 8 1960s Edit During the early 1960s Fowley was involved as co producer co publisher with a string of successful records produced in Los Angeles With Gary S Paxton he recorded the novelty song Alley Oop which reached 1 on the charts in 1960 and was credited to the non existent group the Hollywood Argyles In 1961 he co produced the instrumental Like Long Hair arranged by Paxton which became a 38 hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders He arranged Nut Rocker for B Bumble and the Stingers which became a 1 hit in the UK in 1962 and talent scouted Papa Oom Mow Mow a 48 hit for the Rivingtons The following year he produced Popsicles and Icicles by The Murmaids which reached 3 in the charts in 1963 and which was written by a pre Bread David Gates then a session musician and songwriter who had met Fowley while Kim was hitchhiking in Los Angeles 1 9 During the mid 1960s Fowley publicized consulted singer P J Proby and relocated for a time to London England 2 Fowley wrote the lyrics for the song Portobello Road the B side of Cat Stevens first single I Love My Dog 2 He produced a Them spin off band led by two ex Them members brothers Pat and Jackie McAuley who were only allowed to use the band name Other Them in the UK but called themselves Them on the European continent releasing an album called Them Belfast Gypsies and a single Let s Freak Out under the name Freaks of Nature an early incarnation of Slade known as the N Betweens Soft Machine he produced Love Makes Sweet Music their first single and the Lancasters an instrumental rock group featuring a young Ritchie Blackmore He worked with an up and coming band the Farinas and renamed them Family 2 In London around 1967 Fowley collaborated with The Seekers guitarist arranger Keith Potger Together with Potger writing under the nom de plume John Martin they wrote the lyrics to Emerald City Potger has said the song was originally quite unlike the eventual Seekers single and that he heavily Seeker ized the arrangement before presenting it to the group The tune was based on the Ode To Joy theme from Beethoven s ninth Choral symphony Fowley worked on occasion as a recording artist in the 1960s issuing albums such as Love Is Alive and Well 2 In 1965 he wrote and produced a song about the psychedelic experience The Trip In 1966 Fowley and Gail Sloatman later Gail Zappa recorded a spoken word single as Bunny and Bear 10 11 The record is a satire of Sonny and Cher 12 He was credited for hypophone on the Mothers of Invention s first album Freak Out When asked about this band leader Frank Zappa later said The hypophone is his mouth cause all that ever comes out of it is hype 13 Other singles by Fowley as a recording artist included Animal Man during the song he remarks Its too dirty it ll be banned from his popular 1968 album Outrageous All his efforts as a solo artist since 1970 have become cult items both in reissue and bootleg formats In 1968 Fowley joined forces with a young band from Topanga Canyon California St John Green to produce their only album containing songs musical soundtracks comedy and dark poetry The band members were Ed Bissot bass Bill Kirkland guitars Vic Sabino vocals harmonica and percussion Michael Papabax Baxter keyboards arranger and Shelly Scott drums The album was engineered by Michael Lloyd Fowley later claimed it to be one of the great lost records Somebody will reissue it someday and people will start crying and jacking off and smoking dope to it It s a great record There s only a handful of records that I ve made that are great 14 The album was released by MGM on the Flick Disc label but the group disbanded soon afterwards 15 16 He is credited with being the inspiration behind promoter John Brower s call to John Lennon that resulted in the last minute appearance of the Plastic Ono Band at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival on September 13 1969 where Fowley was the MC At this event Fowley invited the audience to light matches and lighters to welcome a nervous John Lennon to the stage 17 In 1969 Fowley produced the album I m Back and I m Proud for Gene Vincent 2 He co wrote for Warren Zevon s first solo album Wanted Dead or Alive 18 Fowley collaborated with his friend Skip Battin during Battin s membership as bassist with the Byrds on a number of songs which appeared on their early 1970 s albums The Hungry Planet You All Look Alike Tunnel of Love Citizen Kane Absolute Happiness Precious Kate and America s Great National Pastime 2 The latter song was released as a single in late 1971 When Battin moved on to the New Riders of the Purple Sage in 1974 Fowley and Battin co wrote five songs for the New Riders On the Amazon Big Wheels Singing Cowboy Neon Rose and Strangers on a Train 2 1970s Edit In 1973 Fowley produced three recordings by Flash Cadillac amp the Continental Kids for the film American Graffiti 1973 These songs were At the Hop Louie Louie and She s So Fine He co wrote songs for KISS Helen Reddy Alice Cooper Leon Russell and Kris Kristofferson He made recordings with Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers which were eventually released in 1981 as The Original Modern Lovers Fowley s tracks were not included on the original versions of the album The Modern Lovers but some were included on later CD reissues 19 In 1974 Fowley placed an advertisement in local fanzine Who Put the Bomp looking for female performers He hoped to form an all female group that he could produce and would perform his songs but no one responded to the advert In 1975 he met the teenage guitarist Joan Jett who expressed interest in forming an all female band Less than two weeks later he met 15 year old drummer Sandy West who introduced herself outside of the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood California West told Fowley of her aspirations to form an all female band after playing in otherwise all male groups This meeting led to Fowley giving West Jett s phone number The two met and began playing together at West s home the following week A short time later Fowley recruited Lita Ford Cherie Currie and Jackie Fox They eventually became the Runaways 2 While he did produce some of their albums and contributed lyrics to songs the band was primarily responsible for creating their own music The group severed their ties with Fowley in 1977 2 Fowley co wrote two Kiss songs King of the Night Time World and Do You Love Me with Paul Stanley and producer Bob Ezrin Both appeared on Kiss 1976 album Destroyer In 1978 Fowley formed the Orchids another all female rock band with Laurie McAllister the last bassist from The Runaways and Sandy Fury 20 a 13 year old rock prodigy on rhythm guitar and vocals In 1979 Fowley signed new artists such as Tommy Rock the Popsicles and the Orchids Fowley promoted Kim Fowley Night featuring these bands at the Whisky a Go Go Fowley brought Stiv Bators amp the Dead Boys the Popsicles and the Orchids into Leon Russell s Cherokee Recording Studio in Hollywood to record LA LA I m on a Hollywood High 1980s Edit In the 1980s Fowley moved to Australia where he announced that he was looking for the new Beatles or ABBA His search turned up power pop band Beathoven who were still under a recording contract with EMI Changing their name to the Innocents he secured a new record deal with Trafalgar Records and produced several songs for the group They too became a cult band in later bootlegs reissues Fowley produced the first demos for the iconic power pop band Candy which featured Gilby Clarke and Kyle Vincent Vincent was Fowley s personal assistant Producer Fowley and attorney David Chatfield recorded the first album for Steel Breeze at Rusk studios in Hollywood and got Steel Breeze their recording contract with RCA Casey Kasem on the edition of March 12 1983 of American Top 40 describes how Fowley discovered Steel Breeze while going through approximately 1200 demo tapes that were about to be discarded by a local Hollywood nightclub Madame Wong s You Don t Want Me Anymore was the first single from the band s self titled album and quickly jumped into the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 supported by a video that was a favorite of early MTV and peaked at 16 The next single Dreamin Is Easy also made it into the Top 40 In 1984 still owning rights to the name the Runaways Fowley rebuilt the image around Gayle Welch an unknown teenager from New Zealand Adding Denise Prior Missy Bonilla then a typist for Denny Diante at what was CBS Records and Cathy DiAmber Catherine Dombrowski with David Carr on keyboards a Chicago guitarist Bill Millay and numerous session musicians Fowley assisted by New Zealander Glenn Holland sought to cash in on the fame of the former Runaways members who had gone on to significant success in their individual solo careers In 1985 he returned to the United States and recorded further songs with the Innocents David Minchin 21 In 1986 Fowley spotted the band Shanghai consisting of Eric Leach and Taz Rudd of Symbol Six Brent Muscat of Faster Pussycat Patrick Muzingo and Todd Muscat of Decry at the Troubadour After seeing their performance he asked Are you ready to make a record They immediately moved in with Fowley and began writing and recording songs David Libert Alice Cooper s ex road manager and agent for George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic was recruited to come in to handle the day to day babysitting chores Shanghai played the reopening of the Whisky a Go Go in April 1986 with Guns N Roses and Faster Pussycat 22 Their last show was at the Scream in Los Angeles in 1987 2000s Edit Fowley is featured in Mayor of the Sunset Strip a 2003 documentary about the disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer Also in 2003 Fowley made a return trip to London England where he made an in store appearance at Intoxica Records on Portobello Road and curated and performed an evening of music and entertainment at the Dirty Water Club at its then base at the Boston Music Room in North London Fowley became an experimental filmmaker after the DVD release of Mayor of the Sunset Strip His written and directed works include Black Room Doom Dollboy The Movie Satan of Silverlake The Golden Road to Nowhere Frankenstein Goes Surfing Trailer Park s On Fire and Jukebox California Video clips scenes from these movies can be seen on YouTube and Myspace and feature a cast of regulars including but not limited to musical oddities such as the Fabulous Miss Wendy Giddle Partridge Richard Rogers Crazy White Man and Clown Porn Queen Hollie Stevens Fowley released the 21 track solo album Adventures in Dreamland on WEED Innerstate Records in 2004 It contained the songs Mayor of the Sunset Strip Terrors in Tinseltown and Ballad of Phil Spector 23 In 2008 Fowley was reunited with Cherie Currie at Harry Houdini s mansion in Los Angeles 24 He played three dozen gigs between June 2007 and February 2009 as the act Crazy White Man a duo featuring him on vocals and Richard Rogers on guitar The bulk of the Crazy White Man shows took place during 2008 and included the Tribute to Gidget Gein which raised funds for Gidget s Hollywood Forever memorial 25 Capitol re released several of his titles and director Guy Ritchie used his song The Trip in the 2008 film RocknRolla Fowley was regularly heard on Sirius Satellite Radio with a four hour show on Saturdays and Sundays Currie wrote a memoir of her time in the Runaways which was turned into the film The Runaways released on March 19 2010 The film featured Michael Shannon as Fowley alongside Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as Currie In 2012 Fowley won the Special Jury Prize at the 13th Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his two feature projects Golden Road to Nowhere and Black Room Doom 2010s Edit In his last years Fowley worked on writing and publishing his autobiography which he divided between three distinct books He released the first volume of his autobiography Lord of Garbage published by Kicks Books in 2012 It covers the years 1939 1969 and describes his early childhood and beginning years in the music business The second volume of his autobiography was intended to be called Planet Pain and to cover the years 1970 1994 The last volume was intended to be finished on his deathbed and to be released posthumously because as the 2010s began Fowley was terminally ill 26 On September 24 2014 Fowley married longtime girlfriend and music executive Kara Wright Fowley in a private ceremony in Los Angeles Death EditFowley died of bladder cancer in Hollywood California on January 15 2015 at the age of 75 27 He is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery 28 29 Sexual misconduct allegations EditIn a 2001 interview Michael Steele of The Bangles claimed Fowley fired her from The Runaways for refusing his sexual advances 30 In July 2015 six months after Fowley s death Jackie Fuchs who had performed under the stage name Jackie Fox with The Runaways claimed that Fowley had raped her in 1975 during a New Year s Eve party while he was involved with the band 31 Fox also alleged that Joan Jett and Cherie Currie witnessed the rape Jett and Currie both denied seeing the incident but songwriter Kari Krome as well as other bystanders who did not intervene have corroborated it 32 Look Away a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry features Fuchs story 33 Selected discography EditSolo work1967 Love Is Alive and Well 1968 Born to Be Wild 1968 Outrageous 1969 Good Clean Fun 1970 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1972 I m Bad 1973 International Heroes 1974 Automatic 1975 Animal God of the Streets 1978 Living in the Streets 1978 Sunset Boulevard 1979 Snake Document Masquerade 1981 Son of Frankenstein 1984 Frankenstein and the All Star Monster Band 1993 White Negroes in Deutschland 1994 Hotel Insomnia 1995 Bad News From The Underworld 1995 Mondo Hollywood 1995 Kings of Saturday Night with Ben Vaughn 1995 Let the Madness In 1996 Worm Culture 1997 Michigan Babylon 1997 Hidden Agenda at the 13th Note with BMX Bandits 1998 The Trip of a Lifetime 1999 Sex Cars and God 2003 Fantasy World 2004 Strange Plantations 2004 Adventures in Dreamland 2013 Wildfire The Complete Imperial Recordings 1968 69 Producer or writer1959 The Renegades Charge b w Geronimo 1960 The Hollywood Argyles Alley Oop 1961 Paul Revere and the Raiders Like Long Hair 1962 B Bumble and the Stingers Nut Rocker 1963 The Murmaids Popsicles and Icicles 1964 The Hellions featuring Dave Mason amp Jim Capaldi 1965 Kim Fowley The Trip 1966 Kim Fowley They re Coming to Take Me Away Ha Haaa 1967 Elf Stone Louisiana Teardrops 1967 The Fire Escape Psychotic Reaction 1967 Soft Machine Feelin Reelin Squeelin B side of Love Makes Sweet Music 1967 The Seekers Emerald City 1968 The Seeds Falling Off the Edge of My Mind b w Wild Blood 1968 St John Green album 1969 Gene Vincent I m Back and I m Proud 1970 Wigwam Tombstone Valentine 1971 Scorpion Swedish Band Album 1972 The Modern Lovers Some tracks included on 1981 album The Original Modern Lovers and on later CD reissues of The Modern Lovers 1973 American Graffiti Soundtrack At the Hop Louie Louie amp She s So Fine 1974 Wide World of Entertainment ABC Music for Desi Arnaz Jr Special 1975 Blue Cheer America Nights and Fighting Star 1975 Alice Cooper Welcome to My Nightmare Escape 1976 KISS Destroyer King of the Night Time World and Do You Love Me 1976 The Runaways The Runaways 1977 The Runaways Queens of Noise 1977 The Runaways Waitin for the Night 1977 Helen Reddy Ear Candy 1977 The Quick Mondo Deco 1977 Vicky Leandros Vicky Leandros 1977 Venus and the Razorblades Songs from the Sunshine Jungle 1978 Dyan Diamond In the Dark 1979 Vampires from Album Space Album 1980 The Orchids The Orchids 1981 Jon and the Nightriders California Fun single producer 1981 Hollywood Confidential Compilation LP and iTunes 1982 Steel Breeze Steel Breeze 1986 London band Don t Cry Wolf LP producer 1986 Child ƨ Play Ruff House EP 1987 Agent X Rock n Roll Angels Demon Doll Records 1988 Leather Nun International Heroes 1996 Blowtorch Automotivation producer 1999 Underground Animal Compilation LP and CD Dionysus Records Bacchus Archives 2003 Impossible but True The Kim Fowley Story Various artists Ace Records 2009 Kim Fowley Another Man s Gold Lost Treasures from the Vaults 1959 69 Volume Two 2011 Next Year Fails Timaras Bitchn 2011 With John York West Coast Revelation GRA Records 34 2012 The Fabulous Miss Wendy No One Can Stop Me 2014 Ariel Pink pom pomBibliography EditFowley Kim 2012 Lord of Garbage New York Kicks Books ISBN 978 0965977760 References Edit a b Ankeny Jason Kim Fowley Biography AllMusic All Media Network Archived from the original on October 2 2011 Retrieved January 15 2015 a b c d e f g h i j Colin Larkin ed 1997 The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music Concise ed Virgin Books p 486 ISBN 1 85227 745 9 Lewis Randy January 15 2015 L A record producer manager Kim Fowley dies at 75 Los Angeles Times McDonnell Evelyn 2013 Queen of Noise The Real Story of The Runaways Boston MA Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0306820397 a b Professional Sports Authenticator PSA amp PSA DNA Authentication Services Psacard com Archived from the original on March 1 2012 Retrieved January 16 2015 Kim Fowley Kimfowley net Retrieved January 16 2015 Kim Fowley You Got Off Easy Knowing Me Now L A Record March 15 2010 Retrieved January 16 2015 Kim Fowley Technicolor Web of Sound Archived from the original on September 5 2009 Retrieved June 5 2019 Musicians Associated with the Byrds F Ebni com Archived from the original on January 20 2013 Retrieved January 16 2015 Grow Kory October 7 2015 Frank Zappa s Widow Gail Zappa Dead at 70 Rolling Stone Retrieved October 8 2015 Kubernik Harvey Calamar Scott June 23 2009 Canyon of Dreams The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon Sterling Publishing Company Inc ISBN 9781402765896 via Google Books YouTube YouTube January 31 2021 Archived from the original on January 31 2021 Retrieved August 28 2021 1 dead link Stax Mike 2001 Interview with Kim Fowley Ugly Things No 19 St John Green 60s Garage Bands com Archived from the original on December 21 2014 Retrieved January 21 2015 St John Green Head Heritage Retrieved January 21 2015 Grow Kory January 15 2015 Kim Fowley Runaways Producer and L A Rock Icon Dead at 75 Rolling Stone ISSN 0035 791X Zevon Crystal 2007 I ll Sleep When I m Dead The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon New York HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 06076 345 9 Mitchell Tim 1999 There s Something About Jonathan Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers London UK Peter Owen ISBN 0 7206 1076 1 Sandy Fury IMDb The Innocents ReverbNation Retrieved January 16 2015 Guns N Roses Venues 1986 W axl rose com Retrieved March 31 2013 Adventures in Dreamland Kim Fowley AllMusic Lecaro Lina June 17 2008 Los Angeles After 30 Years the Runaways Cherie Currie Buries the Hatchet with Kim Fowley LA Weekly Archived from the original on January 16 2009 Retrieved February 6 2009 Kit Borys 2008 Current Activities Kim Fowley net Retrieved February 6 2009 Offbeat L A Kim Fowley Bad Boy With a Heart of Gold Last Stop Before the Neon Graveyard The LA Beat October 2013 Retrieved January 16 2015 McDonald Soraya Nadia January 16 2015 Kim Fowley creator of The Runaways dead at 75 The Washington Post Retrieved July 10 2015 McDonnell Evelyn January 23 2015 Kim Fowley s Hollywood funeral draws stars L A music insiders Los Angeles Times Retrieved June 7 2018 Joan Jett Rodney Bingenheimer amp More Pay Respects to Kim Fowley at Hollywood Funeral Billboard January 22 2015 Retrieved December 5 2018 Spitz Marc 2001 We Got The Neutron Bomb New York City Three Rivers Press p 48 ISBN 978 0609807743 The Runaways Jackie Fuchs claims she was raped by manager Kim Fowley in 1975 The Guardian July 9 2015 Retrieved June 5 2019 Cherkis Jason July 9 2015 The Lost Girls Huffington Post Retrieved June 5 2019 Mangan Lucy September 13 2021 Look Away review horrifying stories of abuse at the hands of male rock stars The Guardian Retrieved September 13 2021 John York on Outsight Radio Hours Internet Archive Retrieved January 16 2015 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kim Fowley Official website Kim Fowley discography at Discogs Kim Fowley at Find a Grave Valcourt Keith September 2013 Kim Fowley Dead Man Rockin Rocker Magazine Archived from the original on September 30 2013 archived 2013 Cammick Murray March 11 2015 Kim Fowley Stranded in Paradise Audioculture co nz Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kim Fowley amp oldid 1135527112, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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