Paul King (born 20 November 1960) is a British-Irish singer, musician, VJ and TV presenter. King was the lead singer of the eponymous 1980s band

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and has released five albums in his musical career.

Biography

Paul King was born in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

and moved to the United Kingdom with his parents at a young age, settling in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After graduating from Coventry Drama School, King joined the

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of ...

Cadets for two years before joining

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 ...

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

the Reluctant Stereotypes. King's line up of the band – which also contained

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 ...

Paul Sampson – released an album ''The Label'' and three singles Confused Action, Plans For Today and Nightmares in the early 1980s on the back of

's vibrant

2 Tone Two-tone, two tone, or 2 tone, etc., may refer to: Audio and sound * Second-order intercept point#Two-tone analysis, Two-tone analysis, in nonlinear system measurement * Two-tone attention signal * Two-tone Warning chime, chime, such as the "ding ...

ska scene. After the demise of the Reluctant Stereotypes, King formed the Raw Screens who perfected their act and style to what King and his manager Perry Haines called 'multi-tone', and then in 1983 relaunched the group as self-named 1980s band

. As lead singer, King was famed for his

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 species of parrots belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea ( true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up t ...

haircut A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut, or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although ...

and spray painted Doc Marten's Boots – a look described "like the

Child Catcher The Child Catcher is a fictional character in the 1968 film ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' and in the later stage musical adaptation. The Child Catcher is employed by the Baron and Baroness Bomburst to snatch and imprison children on the streets of ...

from

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 children's film, children's Musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, ...

. But, hell, the girls loved him," while

Richard James Burgess Richard James Burgess (born 29 June 1949) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor. Burgess's music career spans more than 50 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s a ...

produced and drummed on most of the band's

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s. The band lasted just a couple of years, though both of their albums, '' Steps in Time'' and '' Bitter Sweet'', went Gold, and they had two Top 10 singles with " Love & Pride" and " Alone Without You". Paul King then went

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

with a 1987

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 ...

entitled ''

Joy Joy is the state of being that allows one to experience feelings of intense, long-lasting happiness and contentment of life. It is closely related to, and often evoked by, well-being, success, or good fortune. Happiness, pleasure, and gratitu ...

'', produced by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

musician

Dan Hartman Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American pop rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, and songwriter and original frontman for several bands, including the Soploids, Mak and the Turnarounds, Our Wri ...

. It produced a minor

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

on the UK Singles Chart, "I Know". After an unsuccessful solo career, King became a VJ on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

in 1989, before moving over to

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

in 1994, and then became known for his

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

s on 1980s collection albums. He is mostly remembered for the programmes '' MTV's Greatest Hits'', ''120 Minutes'' and XPO, later renamed First Look. First Look, programmed by Richard Godfrey, Peter Good, Peter Ruppert, showed new singles and album releases and it was presented by VJ Paul King until 30 July 1994. In 1998, a joint King & Paul King 18-track collection, entitled ''The Best of King – Love & Pride'', was eventually released, with hit singles, stand-out tracks,

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 and

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es. Paul King still works for MTV Networks Europe where he has produced shows for

and

Discography

Albums

* 1980 - ''The Label'' (Reluctant Stereotypes album) * Feb 1985 – '' Steps in Time'' (King's debut album – UK No. 6) * Nov 1985 – '' Bitter Sweet'' (King's second album – UK No. 16) * 1987 – ''

'' (Paul King's solo album) * 1998 – ''The Best of King – Love & Pride'' (King and Paul King's joint collection)

Singles

Except where otherwise stated, all are releases by the band King. * 1980 - "Confused Action" (first Reluctant Stereotypes single featuring King) * 1980 - "Plans for Today" (second Reluctant Stereotypes single featuring King) * 1980 - "Nightmares" (third Reluctant Stereotypes single featuring King) * 1984 – " Love & Pride" (UK No. 2) * July 1984 "Soul On My Boots" (UK No. 158) * 8 October 1984 – "Won't You Hold My Hand Now" (UK no. 112) * Jan 1985 – "Love & Pride" (re-release – UK No. 2, US No. 55) * Mar 1985 – "Won't You Hold My Hand Now" (re-release – UK No. 24) * Aug 1985 – " Alone Without You" (UK No. 8) * Oct 1985 – "The Taste of Your Tears" (UK No. 11) * Jan 1986 – "Torture" (UK No. 23) * May 1987 – "I Know" (Paul King solo – UK No. 59) * 1987 – "Follow My Heart" (Paul King solo – UK no,. 126)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Paul 1960 births Living people English male singers English new wave musicians English male songwriters British television presenters British male new wave singers Musicians from County Galway People from Galway (city) People from Coventry British people of Irish descent Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom