Gregory Stanley Kihn (; July 10, 1949 – August 13, 2024) was an American rock musician, radio personality, and novelist. He founded and led the Greg Kihn Band and he wrote several popular horror novels. He is best known for the hits "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" in 1981 and "Jeopardy" in 1983.

Career

Early influences

Kihn's early influence was the Beatles and their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. "Just about every rock and roll musician my age can point to one cultural event that inspired him to take up music in the first place: The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. If you were a shy 14-year-old kid who already had a guitar, it was a life-altering event... In a single weekend everything had changed. I'd come home from school the previous Friday looking like Dion. I went back to class on Monday morning with my hair dry and brushed forward. That's how quickly it happened."

Kihn began his career in his hometown of Baltimore, working in the singer/songwriter mold. But he switched to straightforward rock and roll when he moved to San Francisco in 1974. He started writing songs and playing coffee houses while still in high school in the Baltimore area. When Kihn was 17, his mother submitted a tape of one of his original songs to the talent contest of the big local Top 40 radio station, WCAO 600 AM. Kihn took first prize and won three things that would change his life: a typewriter, a stack of records, and a Vox electric guitar.

Recording career

After his move to California, Kihn worked at painting houses, singing in the streets, and the behind the counter job at Berkeley record store Rather Ripped Records. His co-worker was future bandmate and Earth Quake guitarist Gary Phillips. The next year, Kihn became one of the first artists signed to Matthew King Kaufman's Beserkley Records.

Meanwhile, Kihn's old record store pal, Gary Phillips, who had contributed guitar work to Kihn's first album, returned as a session musician on the band's Glass House Rock (1980) album. He officially joined the band as keyboardist for the follow-up album, RocKihnRoll (1981). In 1981, he earned his first big hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)," from the RocKihnRoll album. (In a radio interview, Kihn commented that he received "a nice check" from Yankovic's record company every month.)

For most of the 1980s Kihn toured frequently, opening arena-sized shows for groups including Journey, the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones. Kihn often appeared on TV during this period on shows such as Solid Gold, American Bandstand, and Saturday Night Live.

In 1985, Kihn broke with Beserkley Records and signed with EMI. Matthew Kaufman continued to produce Kihn's albums. "Lucky" (1985) reached a modest No. 30 on the Hot 100 and spawned a splashy video sequel to the popular "Jeopardy" video. In 1986, Joe Satriani replaced Greg Douglass on lead guitar, Tyler Eng replaced Larry Lynch on drums, and Gary Phillips left with Pat Mosca taking over on keyboards. That is the lineup which recorded the album Love and Rock & Roll (1986).

He also began a literary career in 1996 with the release of his first novel, Horror Show, published by Tor/Forge Books.

In September 2013, Music Life Radio interviewed Kihn about his music, radio, and writing careers.

Kihn's last album, ReKihndled, was released in 2017. He continued to perform live as late as December 2019.

Charity work and volunteerism

Kihn did charity work for "Operation Care and Comfort", a military support group responsible for sending care packages to hundreds of military units deployed in harm's way around the world. He was nominated for the 2010 “Man of the Year Award” by the Lymphoma Society and performed for Children's Hospital in Oakland, California, in the fight against cancer.

Personal life and death

Kihn was born in Baltimore, Maryland,

Kihn had two children, son Ry - a guitarist and Lexi - a nurse. Kihn was of Polish descent.

Kihn died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in the San Francisco Bay Area, on August 13, 2024, at the age of 75.

Discography

Author

Kihn wrote four horror fiction novels, beginning with Horror Show (1996), which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, followed by Shade of Pale (1997). Big Rock Beat and Mojo Hand were released as sequels to Horror Show.

He released Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians, a collection of short stories written by him and other well-known rock musicians including Pete Townshend, Graham Parker, Joan Jett, and Ray Davies. In 2013, Kihn released Rubber Soul, a murder mystery novel featuring the Beatles.

Bibliography

See also

  • List of Billboard number-one dance club songs
  • List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart

References

  • Greg Kihn's website
  • [ Greg Kihn's biography on AllMusic.com]