Jeffrey Sonny Kruger MBE (''né'' Krugerkoff, 19 April 1931 –14 May 2014) was a British entertainment business executive who owned the Flamingo Club in Soho, London, established the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

Ember Records, and set up the music business conglomerate TKO (The Kruger Organisation).

Biography

Kruger was born in the East End of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1931; his father changed the family's German name of Krugerkoff to Kruger during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Spencer Leigh, "Jeff Kruger: Businessman who opened the Flamingo Club, which was at the epicentre of the British jazz and r’n’b scene", ''The Independent'', 23 May 2014
Retrieved 23 May 2014 He started work as a salesman with

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

. He aspired to be a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist and performed in

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s, Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner, "Industry Profile: Jeffrey Kruger", ''www.celebrityaccess.com''
Retrieved 16 May 2014 before forming his own band, Sonny Kruger and the Music Makers. With his father, Sam Kruger, he founded the Flamingo Club in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

in 1952, initially in

Coventry Street Coventry Street is a short street in the West End of London, connecting Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. Part of the street is a section of the A4 road (England), A4, a major road through London. It is named after the politician Henry Cov ...

; it moved to

Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north from Leicester Square, through Chinatown, London, Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street. Throughout the 20th century th ...

in 1957.Bob Solly, ''Absolute Beginnings'', Record Collector no.399, March 2012, pp.48-56 He established contacts in the US, and persuaded jazz drummer

Tony Crombie Anthony John Kronenberg (27 August 1925 – 18 October 1999), known professionally as Tony Crombie, was an English jazz drummer, pianist, bandleader, and composer. He was regarded as one of the finest English jazz drummers and bandleaders, an oc ...

to form one of the earliest British

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

bands, Tony Crombie and the Rockets. Kruger acted as Crombie's manager and record producer, and co-produced the movie ''

Rock You Sinners ''Rock You Sinners'' is a 1957 British second feature black and white musical film directed by Denis Kavanagh and featuring early British rock and roll artistes, including Art Baxter and His Rock 'n' Roll Sinners, known for their song "Rock You S ...

'' in 1957. The Flamingo Club became established as a venue for leading American and British jazz performers, and in the early 1960s jazz-influenced

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

bands such as

Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were a British rhythm and blues group during the 1960s whose repertoire spanned R&B, Pop music, pop, Rock music, rock and jazz. They were originally the backing band for rock and roll singer Billy Fury. At the ...

performed there regularly. The club became a centre of the

mod subculture Mod, from the word ''modernist'', is a subculture that began in late 1950s London and spread throughout Great Britain, eventually influencing fashions and trends in other countries. It continues today on a smaller scale. Focused on music and f ...

, and by the mid-1960s a regular venue for emerging

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

bands. Biography at Allmusic.com
Retrieved 16 May 2014 Kruger also set up other clubs such as the Florida. By the late 1950s, Kruger had established his own music publishing, talent and management agencies. In 1960 he founded the independent Ember

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

which, as well as recording British acts, distributed many American and other recordings in the UK, including those of

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

. Kruger also organised British and European tours by many successful American performers including

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

and

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

. In the 1970s and 1980s he actively promoted

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

and performers including

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

and

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...

. He expanded his operations in the US, and established TKO in 1979. He later concentrated on promoting many dance and theatre productions. He published an autobiography, ''Angels & Assholes: My Life With The Stars'', in 1999. He was awarded the MBE in 2002, for his services to music. He died in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

in 2014 at the age of 83. His son Howard Kruger is also a successful concert and tour promoter, and music and entertainment business executive. Howard Kruger: Biography
Retrieved 16 May 2014

References

External list

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruger, Jeffrey 1931 births 2014 deaths British music industry executives Members of the Order of the British Empire