Paul King (born January 9 1948,
DagenhamDagenham is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, situated east of Charing Cross, in East London.-Etymology:Dagenham as Dæccanhaam is first recorded in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD...
,
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
,
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
), was a member of
Mungo JerryMungo Jerry is an English folk/classic rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted by Ray Dorset. They are remembered above all for their hit "In the Summertime". It remains their most...
between 1970 and 1972. He contributed occasional lead vocals, and played
acoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
(6 and 12 string),
banjoThe banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza...
,
harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
,
kazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
and
jugThe jug as a musical instrument reached its height of popularity in the 1920s, when jug bands, such as Cannon's Jug Stompers were popular.The eponymous jug is just that: an empty jug played with the mouth...
. His
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s on the first Mungo Jerry
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
and on the early maxi-singles were generally more folksy and lighter in style than those of group leader
Ray DorsetRay Dorset is a English guitarist, singer, songwriter and founder of Mungo Jerry...
, and he was frustrated when his own songs were constantly rejected for subsequent albums.
On the second album,
Electronically TestedElectronically Tested is the second album by Mungo Jerry. The UK release was on Dawn Records, and it appeared with slightly different track listings in other countries, as many territories outside the UK had already added the group’s first hit ‘In The Summertime’ to the running order on the...
, his composition "Black Bubonic Plague" appeared on
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an copies only, but not on the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
release.
Paul King (born January 9 1948,
DagenhamDagenham is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, situated east of Charing Cross, in East London.-Etymology:Dagenham as Dæccanhaam is first recorded in a charter of Barking Abbey dating from 687 AD...
,
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
,
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
), was a member of
Mungo JerryMungo Jerry is an English folk/classic rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted by Ray Dorset. They are remembered above all for their hit "In the Summertime". It remains their most...
between 1970 and 1972. He contributed occasional lead vocals, and played
acoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
(6 and 12 string),
banjoThe banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza...
,
harmonicaThe harmonica is a free reed wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes. The pressure caused by blowing or drawing air into the reed chambers causes a reed or multiple reeds to vibrate up and down creating sound...
,
kazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument with a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton—a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane.-Playing:...
and
jugThe jug as a musical instrument reached its height of popularity in the 1920s, when jug bands, such as Cannon's Jug Stompers were popular.The eponymous jug is just that: an empty jug played with the mouth...
. His
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s on the first Mungo Jerry
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
and on the early maxi-singles were generally more folksy and lighter in style than those of group leader
Ray DorsetRay Dorset is a English guitarist, singer, songwriter and founder of Mungo Jerry...
, and he was frustrated when his own songs were constantly rejected for subsequent albums.
On the second album,
Electronically TestedElectronically Tested is the second album by Mungo Jerry. The UK release was on Dawn Records, and it appeared with slightly different track listings in other countries, as many territories outside the UK had already added the group’s first hit ‘In The Summertime’ to the running order on the...
, his composition "Black Bubonic Plague" appeared on
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an copies only, but not on the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
release. King
recordedSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
a
soloIn music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album,
Been in the Pen Too Long in 1972, and left Mungo Jerry shortly afterwards.
He and the group’s
keyboardA keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
player Colin Earl (born 6 May 1942,
Hampton-In Australia:*Hampton, Queensland*Mount Hampton, Western Australia*Hampton, Victoria*Hampton East, Victoria*Hampton Park, Victoria-In Canada:*Hampton, New Brunswick*Hampton, Nova Scotia*Hampton, Ontario*Hampton, Prince Edward Island-In England:...
,
MiddlesexMiddlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
) formed the King Earl Boogie Band with
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitars, electric guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :...
Dave Lambert,
bassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Russell John Brown and
washboardA washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
player
Joe Rush'Joe Rush' influenced by the film 'Mad Max' and 'Judge Dredd' comics, was the co-originator of the travelling multi media art group Mutoid Waste Company, an underground art collective who specialised in building large scale installations out of waste material...
, who had been a part-time Mungo member. Their album
Trouble at Mill was well reviewed, but a single "Plastic Jesus" was banned by the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
on grounds of
blasphemyBlasphemy is the use of reference to one or more gods in a manner considered objectionable by a religious authority. It may include using sacred names as stress expletives without intention to pray or speak of sacred matters; it is also sometimes defined as language expressing disbelief or...
. The group disbanded a few months later, and Lambert later joined Strawbs.
King then pursued a solo career, releasing occasional records under the names P. Rufus King and D’Jurann D’Jurann (no connection with the British group
Duran DuranDuran Duran are an English rock band from Birmingham, United Kingdom. They were one of the most successful of the 1980s bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. Since the 1980s they have placed 14 in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the...
), as well as under his usual name.
King and Earl later formed Skeleton Krew, though in the 1990s they reverted to the name of King Earl Boogie Band. King retired to
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
in 1996, though since then he has occasionally joined his colleagues and former members for one-off
gigsA concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. The music may be performed by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band. Informal names for a concert include "show" and "gig"...
, sometimes under the name Skeleton Krew or Skeleton Crew.
External links