Rob Jungklas is an American,

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

-based musician, singer and songwriter. Jungklas worked in the Memphis-based music circuit for 15 years before signing a deal with

Manhattan Records Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Interscope Capitol Labels Group. Company history Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall and was later renamed EMI Manhatt ...

and releasing the album ''Closer to the Flame'' in 1986. The album made it to #102 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

in 1986. The album contained the minor hit "Make It Mean Something," which reached #86 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Another song, "Boystown," had
video
directed by

Godley & Creme Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music v ...

(in the same rapid-

jump-cut A jump cut is a cut in film editing that breaks a single continuous sequential shot of a subject into two parts, with a piece of footage removed to create the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positioning on the subject across the seque ...

style of their video for Wang Chung's "

Everybody Have Fun Tonight "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" is a song by the English New wave music, new wave band Wang Chung (band), Wang Chung, released as a Single (music), single from their fourth studio album ''Mosaic (Wang Chung album), Mosaic'' in 1986. Collaboratively ...

"). "Hello Heaven," another song on the album, appeared on the soundtrack of the 1987 movie ''

The Principal ''The Principal'' is a 1987 action comedy film starring Jim Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr. and Rae Dawn Chong. Written by Frank Deese and directed by Christopher Cain, it was filmed in Oakland, California, and at Northgate High School in near ...

''. Jungklas recorded a second album that was not released; Jungklas later released the album through his own website under the title ''Wrestle With Angels''. He then moved to

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 ...

, where his album ''Work Songs for a New Moon'' was released in 1989. The album was not a commercial success, and he left the label. Jungklas then left the music business; he married, earned a college degree and got a job teaching English and science at the Hutchison School in Memphis. He later moved to

St. George's Independent School St. George's Independent School (SGIS) is a co-educational private school in Memphis, Tennessee affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Founded in 1959, it educates students from pre-kindergarten (PK) until grade 12 and has three campuses in the ...

Collierville, Tennessee Collierville ( "call your ville" or "call yer ville"), officially the Town of Collierville, is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. With a population of 51,324 in the 2020 Unite ...

to work as a 7th grade science teacher. Jungklas began playing music again in 2001, and released the album ''Arkadelphia'' in 2003 on Memphis-based label Madjack Records. Its

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

-based sound was a major departure from his

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 ...

-oriented 1980s releases. Jungklas played several shows opening for

Lucinda Williams Lucinda Gayl Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, ''Ramblin' on My Mind (Lucinda Williams album), Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and ''Happy Woman Blues'' (198 ...

in support of the album. Jungklas released another blues-based album, ''Gully'', in 2007. In August 2010, he released ''Mapping the Wreckage''. Madjack released Jungklas' ''The Spirit And The Spine'' in November 2013. Jungklas said that while he's proud of his pop-oriented work in the 1980s, "in my mind, I'm really a blues artist ... folk and blues. People might roll their eyes when I say that. But in my head, that's what it is."

Discography

*''Romeos'' (1983) *''Closer to the Flame'' (1986) *''Work Songs for a New Moon'' (1989) * "Where The Earth Meets The Sky" (1993) (2018) *''Arkadelphia'' (2003) *''Gully'' (2007) *''Mapping the Wreckage'' (2010) *''The Spirit And The Spine'' (2013) *''Nothing to Fade'' (2014) *''7 Sisters'' (2015) *''Blackbirds'' (2017) *''Rebel Souls'' (2022)

References

External links

Rob Jungklas' websiteRob Jungklas' Bandcamp page
Living people Singers from Tennessee Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{US-rock-singer-stub