Robbie King (born Robert Glenn King; May 27, 1947 – October 17, 2003)Uncredited
B.C. musician helped create Motown sound

Victoria Times Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the September 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ' ...

, October 22, 2003. Retrieved November 27, 2012. was a Canadian musician, associated with many national and international acts. He was most associated with his playing of the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

History

Born in Malartic, Quebec, on May 27, 1947, King came from a musical family. His mother Clarice played piano in his father's regional big band, Bob King and His Queens, an all-female band particularly popular in the 1940s. Returning from an engagement, King's father was killed in a car accident, which also badly injured both King and his mother. King's career as a professional musician began as a member of

Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers were a Canadian soul band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The group recorded for the Gordy Records division of Motown Records in 1968, where they had a top 30 hit single, "Does Your Mama Know About Me". As ...

, which also included drummer Duris Maxwell. King and Maxwell developed a forty-year friendship that continued until King's death. Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers were signed to the

Gordy ''Gordy'' is a 1994 American family comedy-drama film directed by Mark Lewis, about a livestock piglet named Gordy who searches for his missing family (who are taken away to a slaughterhouse in Omaha, Nebraska). He experiences the lives of othe ...

label of

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Based on that relationship, King later joined the studio musicians associated with Motown Records. In addition to contributing to various Motown recordings, King toured with

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

, among other Motown acts.Uncredited
Heat of The Night
www.jimvallance.com. Retrieved December 5, 2012. King later was a founding member of

Skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially ...

, a band that included

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

. Skylark is most closely associated with the hit song "

Wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

", which has been the subject of multiple

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s. Following Skylark, King was a founding member of The Hometown Band. He also played the organ part for the instrumental "

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

" recorded by The Incredible Bongo Band in 1973. King settled in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada and became a studio musician, playing keyboards on Bryan Adams' " Into The Fire" and "

Waking Up the Neighbours ''Waking Up the Neighbours'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams, released on September 24, 1991. The album was recorded at Battery Studios in London and The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, mixed at Mayfair Studios ...

" albums. He also spent approximately 20 years, starting in 1980, as a member of the Cal Batchelor Band and the Terry Edmunds Band 1985–2003.Pacific Northwest Bands
Membership of The Cal Batchelor Band
Retrieved December 9, 2012. Batchelor, as a member of Quiver, had previously been associated with the

Sutherland Brothers The Sutherland Brothers (Gavin and Iain Sutherland) were a Scottish folk and soft rock duo. From 1973 to 1978, they performed with rock band Quiver, and recorded and toured as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. Under this combined moniker, the gr ...

. King died from throat cancer on October 17, 2003, at the age of 56.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Robbie 1947 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian organists Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Canadian male organists Musicians from Quebec Musicians from Vancouver Skylark (Canadian band) members