Bill King (3)

Pianist, songwriter, arranger, producer, photographer, journalist, publisher and broadcaster born June 22, 1946 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, USA. Father of Jesse King. Started his career in mid-'60s with his band The Chateaus (2) who had a 1966 hit with Moanin'. In 1968 he moved to Los Angeles and became Linda Ronstadt's musical director, alongside Andrew Gold. The next year he joined Janis Joplin's Kozmic Blues Band. He relocated in Toronto, Canada, in 1969, where he released two albums at Capitol. Stayed there until 1976 when he returned to Los Angeles to become musical director for Martha Reeves and then for Pointer Sisters. In the late '70s he returned to Toronto, forming the rock group Kearney, King, and McBride who became China. After one album and two singles, they disbanded and King joined Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks for a year from 1983 to 1984. In 1984 he turned to jazz full-time, forming The Bill King Quintet and establishing his jazz label Night Passage Records. In 1985 he formed the experimental act The BarKing Boys. From 1985 to 1991 he hosted a syndicated radio program focusing on jazz based in Toronto, started The Jazz Report Magazine with Greg Sutherland and in 1988 became the inaugural artistic director for the Beaches International Jazz Festival (a position he would maintain for over 30 years). In 1992 he co-founded the Radioland Jazz label with Sutherland. He continues to record and release jazz through the 2010s.