Kim Vincent Fowley (born July 21, 1939) is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter and musician. He is the son of Hollywood character actor Douglas Fowley (Singin' in the Rain). He has generally remained on the fringes of the mainstream, immersing himself in obscure and offbeat projects while occasionally stumbling onto (and frequently exploiting) commercial success. Of all his ventures, he is arguably best known for his role behind a string of novelty, cult rock, and 45 rpm records of particular significance during the 1960s, for co-founding the all-female punk music group titled The Runaways in the 1970s with Joan Jett and Sandy West— whence also came Cherie Currie and Lita Ford — for working as a producer and songwriter with Helen Reddy in the late 1970s, including her album Ear Candy.
During the 1960s in Los Angeles, Fowley produced hundreds of recordings with a wide range of acts and in a remarkably broad spectrum of styles - from bubblegum novelty acts and girl group ditties, Fowley also wrote, covered, and produced songs in genres ranging from folk and country to acid rock. While some of them went on to attain a cult status over time, only a few achieved mainstream commercial success. His three biggest hits - all as producer - were "Alley Oop" by The Hollywood Argyles (a US #1 in 1960); a cover of "Nut Rocker" by B. Bumble and the Stingers (a UK #1 in 1962); and "Popsicles and Icicles" by The Murmaids, a US #3 in 1963. The latter was written by a pre-Bread David Gates, then a session musician and songwriter who had met Fowley while hitchhiking in LA.
During the mid-1960s Fowley relocated for a time to London where he worked and recorded with a sizeable number of then-unknown acts and musicians who later went on to become famous. Fowley wrote the lyrics to a song, and sought a partner through Mike Hurst from Decca Records to compose a melody for it. The song was titled, "Portobello Road", and so became the B-side of Cat Stevens' first record single, "I Love My Dog".
He produced an early incarnation of Slade known as the N'Betweens; Soft Machine (he produced their first single); and the Lancasters, an instrumental rock group featuring a young Ritchie Blackmore. He also helped Napoleon XIV record the 1966 novelty record "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!", which was a hit in the UK and number 1 in the US. The B-side consisted of the A-side played backwards.
Fowley worked on occasion as a recording artist in the 1960s, issuing opportunistic flower-power albums such as Love Is Alive and Well. In 1965, he wrote and produced a song about the psychedelic experience, called "The Trip". Released as a single in June of that year, it is possibly the first recorded rock song about LSD.[citation needed] Though largely ignored in the USA, it charted in Europe and oddly, was one of the first releases on Island Records. Other 45s by Fowley as a recording artist included the notorious, darkly comic "Animal Man" (1968). He has guested as a musician (on megaphone) on Frank Zappa's first album Freak Out!.
In 1969 Fowley produced a critically acclaimed comeback album for Gene Vincent entitled I'm Back and I'm Proud. That same year, he produced Warren Zevon's first solo album, Wanted Dead of Alive (although he walked away from the project due to disagreements with Zevon prior to its completion and did not take credit as the producer[1]). Fowley perhaps came closest to mainstream recognition (and chart success) during a period from 1969 to 1971, when he collaborated with his friend Skip Battin, during Battin's membership as bassist with the Byrds on a number of songs. Several appeared on the group's hit 1970 album, Untitled; one, from the 1971 LP, Farther Along, was even released as a single: "America's Great National Pastime". However, the novelty-Americana slant of much of this material was not well-received.
In 1972 and again in 1973 he produced early recordings by Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, many of which were released several years later.
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".
By the late 1970s, after meeting a teenaged Joan Jett and drummer Sandy West, with whom he founded the legendary all-female punk combo, The Runaways. Stories about the rise and fall of The Runaways, and of Fowley's bizarre expectations of the act's members vary depending on the source. However, by printing the girls' ages (as young as fourteen or fifteen) on the back cover of their first album, Fowley helped to seal his Svengali image. Furthermore, according to 1980s interviews with Sandy West and Cherie Currie in publications including The Guardian and The Cutting Edge, members were required to go along with the "special needs" of Fowley and his associates "if they wanted to stay in the band". According to Sandy West, Fowley told her that Michael Steele, (later of The Bangles) and Ann Boleyn (of Hellion) "were both kicked out because they wouldn't put out in the way he expected, if you know what I mean".
During the 1970s Fowley also co-wrote songs for acts as diverse as KISS, Helen Reddy, Slade, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell and Kris Kristofferson. He also co-produced, with John Cale, the debut album by cult new-wavers the Modern Lovers.
His efforts as a solo artist since 1970 have sold poorly, but his albums of the 1970s such as I'm Bad and International Heroes have been cited as an influence on punk rock and power pop. Some of his New Wave styled recordings of the late 1970s have been cited as prefiguring the electroclash genre; electroclash band Add N to (X) covered his song "Invasion of the Polaroid People" on their "Loud Like Nature" album, using extensive samples of his original version.
The early 1980s saw Fowley travel to Australia where he announced publicly that he was "looking for the new Beatles or ABBA". His search turned up power pop band Beathoven who were still under contract to EMI. Changing their name to The Innocents, he produced several songs with them and helped them secure a new record deal with Trafalgar Records. Once success failed to materialise he returned to the United States. He returned to the band's hometown Hobart,Tasmania in 1985 where he recorded further songs with Innocents member David Minchin[2].
In 1984, still owning rights to the name "The Runaways", Fowley re-built 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 and a Chicago guitarist Bill Millay, Fowley, assisted by New Zealander Glenn Holland, sought to recreate the spirit of the Runaways with a mildly-successful CD.
He is featured in Mayor of the Sunset Strip, a 2003 documentary about influential LA DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, in which Cherie Currie of The Runaways claims that he was abusive to her and the group while he was their manager and producer. Fowley was sued by the members of the band in the 1990s for ownership of the name and back monies owed. The group won the suit. Fowley currently lives in California and still works as a record producer for hire and occasional recording artist. (Classic quote:
"You must be very cynical, very detached, and nothing bothers you, like me, and you'll be fine. I recommend it for all selfish bastards who have shit in their own little place. Get on a plane, immediately, and show up."
-- Kim Fowley, in Mayor of the Sunset Strip, commenting on what type of people should go to Hollywood.)
In 2005 Fowley was recruited by Steven Van Zandt to host his own radio show on Van Zandt's Underground Garage radio channel heard throughout America on Sirius Satellite Radio. Fowley is presently heard every weekend on the channel - with a 4-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays.
On June 24, 2007, Fowley appeared on stage before some 17,000 concert-goers at the Hollywood Bowl at the conclusion of the DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist performance of "Hard Sell" (aka Brain Placement: 7 Inches of Fury.) Fowley announced in a very slow and deliberate monotone, "I'm Kim Fowley and that was the Hard Sell."
2008 was a busy year for Kim Fowley, seeing both the unlikely reunion of Fowley & original Runaways front woman Cherie Currie at Houdini's mansion in Los Angeles,[3] and his return to the stage as a solo act. He played a dozen gigs between June 2008 & December 2008 as the act Crazy White Man, a duo featuring him on vocals [4] and Richard Rogers,[4] a guitar for hire whom Fowley called "the new Keith Richards". Little is known of Richard; Fowley is quoted on his official webpage as saying "You'll be pleased to know that Richard Rogers, mixing-audio engineer-multi-instumentalist from the Inland Empire, is here in my lifeboat, trying to find a safe harbor. . ."[4] but he did play drums of all things on the Fowley produced John York singles that were released this year - John being a member of The Byrds who has a long- standing relationship with Fowley.
Capitol rereleased several of his epic titles, and director Guy Ritchie used his music in the 2008 UK #1 Hit 'RockNRolla'.[4] The movie was not a hit in the US, having nothing to do with the stellar soundtrack.
Fowley ended the year by playing the memorial for Marilyn Manson founding member and bass player Gidget Gein's memorial show in Hollywood. He did not play the show as Crazy White Man officially, but did enlist Richard Rogers again on guitar. The pair both were seen in macabre makeup and attire, with porn stars, lesbians, audience members & dominatrix onstage.[4] The film of the event has yet to be released, but the show was written up in LA Times & LA City Beat.
Selective discography (as producer)
- 2003 Various Artists: "Impossible But True - The Kim Fowley Story" (Ace Records)
External links
References
- ^ I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon
- ^ http://www.reverbnation.com/theinnocents
- ^ Lecaro, Lina. "Los Angeles - After 30 Years, The Runaways' Cherie Currie Buries the Hatchet with Kim Fowley - Play - LA Weekly". Blogs.laweekly.com. http://blogs.laweekly.com/play/news/no-harm-no-fowley-runaways-riv/. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ a b c d e Kit, Borys. "2008 Current Activities". Kim Fowley. http://www.kimfowley.net/victories/2008.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
