Reginald King (5 February 1945 – 8 October 2010), known professionally as Reg King or Reggie King, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

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

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, most famous for being the solo and lead singer with The Boys and

The Action The Action were an English band of the 1960s, formed as the Boys in August 1963, in Kentish Town, North West London. They were part of the mod subculture, and played soul music-influenced pop music. History 1963–1964: The Boys The band ...

. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, aged 65, in October 2010.

Early life

Reg King was born on 5 February 1945 in Paddington, West London. King and drummer Roger Powell had known each other since their schooldays, and were involved in the early days of the

Scene Club The Scene Club was a 1960s music venue in Ham Yard, 41 Great Windmill Street, Soho, central London, England. The club opened in 1963 and was associated with the mod youth subculture. Bands that appeared at the club included the Rolling Stones ...

Soho, London SoHo, short for "South of 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 (SoHo), and ha ...

, becoming pioneers in mod subculture and fashion.

Career

King was lead singer and songwriter of the Boys (1963–1964) and the Action (1965–1968). His first venture into song-writing was for Sandra Barry, in which he penned "Really Gonna Shake" b/w "When We Get Married" in March 1964 on

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

. In 1967, King wrote the Action

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

's, "Twenty Four Hours" and "Something Has Hit Me", the latter co-written by King with

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

journalist and flatmate Nick Jones. For the Action's ''Rolled Gold'' compilation album King wrote "Come Around", "Climbing Up The Wall" and of course, "Little Boy". In 1968, he produced

Gary Farr Gary Anthony Farr (19 October 1944 – 29 July 1994) was a British folk/blues singer best known as the founder and lead vocalist of the T-Bones, a British rhythm and blues band active primarily in the early to mid-1960s. After the break-up of ...

's album ''Take Something With You'' (1969) on

Marmalade Records Marmalade Records was a short-lived British independent record label (distributed by Polydor). Started in 1966 by Swiss-resident Georgian pop impresario and ex-manager of both the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds, Giorgio Gomelsky, it releas ...

Solo career

In 1971, King released his first self-titled solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. It was accompanied by B.B. Blunder (ex-

Blossom Toes Blossom Toes were a British psychedelic rock band active between 1966 and 1970. Initially known as The Ingoes, they were renamed and signed to the Marmalade record label of manager Giorgio Gomelsky. The original line-up comprised Brian Goddin ...

) and

Mighty Baby Mighty Baby were an English band formed in January 1969 by former members of the Action. They released two albums, ''Mighty Baby'' (1969) and ''A Jug of Love'' (1971). History Following the 1968 departure of singer Reg King from the Action, k ...

(former band members), along with other guest musicians such as

Mick Taylor Michael Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, h ...

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his dis ...

(credited as Mystery Man),

Brian Auger Brian Albert Gordon Auger (born 18 July 1939) is an English jazz rock and rock keyboardist who specialises in the Hammond organ. Auger has worked with Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Sonny Boy Williamson, Eric B ...

and

Danny McCulloch Daniel Joseph "Danny" McCulloch (18 July 1945 – 29 January 2015) was an English musician best known as the bassist of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Eric Burdon and The Animals. Early life Danny McCulloch was born in Shepherd's Bush, W ...

. This album was self-produced, and co-written by Peter Dale and King. An earlier version of "Little Boy" and "In My Dreams" (co-written with Alan "Bam" King), also appears on the Action compilation album titled ''Rolled Gold''.Raison, Mark (January 7, 2011). THE ACTION: REGGIE KING INTERVIEW (1995). ''Monkey Picks''. Retrieved May 5, 2024 King also collaborated with B.B. Blunder and released a single "Little Boy" b/w "10,000 Miles" – songs from King's album. The 1971 self-titled album was digitally remastered and re-released in 2023, with bonus material in CD format. King's EP, ''Missing in Action'' (2007) was released on

Circle Records Circle Records is a jazz record label founded in 1946 by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis. History In New York, Blesh and Janis heard jazz drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds playing inventive solos with Bunk Johnson's band. Blesh said he hated drum solos ...

. His second solo album, ''Looking For A Dream'' (2013) was released posthumously, also on Circle Records. The majority of the songs was written by King himself, except for "Get Up, Get Away" and "Suddenly" which he co-wrote with Kevin Westlake.

Death

King died of cancer, aged 65, on 8 October 2010 in Belvedere, London Borough of Bexley. He was buried at Hillview Cemetery in Welling, London Borough of Bexley. His grave was unmarked as grave 190, until fan Paul Anderson tracked down the resting place of Reginald King in October 2020. King's grave plaque was adorned with the inscription '''Never Ever think of bad times, just remember the glad times. There was a previous campaign for a headstone in 2017, but nothing became of it.

Solo discography

Albums

''Reg King'' (1971)

The eponymous solo LP was released by

records, and features members of B.B. Blunder (ex-

) and

(ex-The Action), with

and

. The album was reissued in 2006 by

, the CD has 6 bonus tracks.

''Looking For a Dream'' (2013)

This collection is a second, previously unreleased album, issued again by Circle Records, under his nickname ''Reggie'' King.

Singles

Reg King and B.B. Blunder: *"Little Boy" b/w "10,000 Miles" (United Artists UP 35204) 1971

EPs

''Missing In Action'' (2007)

10"/6-Track EP (Circle Records CPW E10-101, 2007) Side 1 Side 2

Compilation albums

*The track "Gone Away" appears on

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

1971 sampler ''

All Good Clean Fun ''All Good Clean Fun'' was originally a promotional sampler issued by United Artists Records (UDX 201/2) in 1971. This original release was a double album containing 23 tracks by 20 different artists, with three artists (Morning, The Nitty Gritt ...

'' (UDX 201/2) *The single "Little Boy" appears on the 2004

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

CD re-package of ''All Good Clean Fun'' (Liberty 8660902)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Reg 1945 births 2010 deaths Singers from the City of Westminster People from Paddington English male singers English male songwriters English soul singers English pop singers Deaths from cancer in England British rhythm and blues boom musicians