John Carl Kuehne (February 6, 1942 – February 12, 2000), better known as John London, was an American

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, and was involved in several

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

productions. He was most notably associated with both the band

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

and their

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Biography

Kuehne was born in Brazos County, Texas. He became a friend of

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their The Monkees (TV series), TV series of the same name (1966–1968) ...

, who had played with him (mostly

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

) in several working bands. He accompanied Nesmith and then-wife Phyllis Barbour to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to try their luck in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

-area music scene. When Nesmith was cast in ''The Monkees'', he recruited London as his stand-in on the set, and when the originally-fictitious band began playing on their own recordings, London sometimes served as bassist, allowing

Peter Tork Peter Halsten Thorkelson (February 13, 1942 – February 21, 2019), better known by his stage name Peter Tork, was an American musician and actor. He was best known as the bass guitarist and keyboardist of the Monkees and co-star of the NBC ...

to play keyboards,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, or another instrument. London also co-wrote "Don't Call On Me" with Nesmith, which was featured on '' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.'' and a second-season TV episode, and appeared in bit parts on the show. London also played bass for other L.A.-based bands. In 1970, he and Nesmith, who had decided to leave the Monkees, formed a new group with pedal steel guitar ace Red Rhodes and drummer John Ware. Calling themselves the First National Band, the group signed with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. While praised for their

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

innovations, the band had little commercial success, and eventually broke up. Years after the Monkees and the First National Band, London served as key grip on several different productions, including '' 48 Hrs.'', ''Who Will Love My Children?'', '' The Karate Kid'', '' Long Time Gone'', and '' Hudson Hawk''. He died in Rockport, Texas on February 12, 2000, aged 58.

References

External links

* 1942 births 2000 deaths American rock songwriters American rock singers The Monkees American male singer-songwriters American session musicians American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists 20th-century American singer-songwriters American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Texas The First National Band members People from Brazos County, Texas {{US-rock-singer-stub