Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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JONATHAN KING
“EVERYONE’S GONE TO THE” MOON”
(JONATHAN KING)
Parrot 9774
No. 17 Nov 6, 1965
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Kenneth King (b. Dec. 6, 1944, London) was right and proper when he was a lad. He was educated at
London’s Charterhouse School and went on a tour about the globe. He was attending Trinity College in
Cambridge as an English Lit. major when he came upon this scruffy bunch of beat musicians called the
Bumblies. It was through the Bumblies that King met some execs at British Decca Records–in particular,
a Mr. Ken Jones, who encouraged the youth to try his hand at writing some hip songs. One of the first of
these was the hodge-podgy “Everyone’s Gone To The Moon.” At the time, everyone liked it, but no one
seemed to really understand it. Nonetheless, King’s thing became a worldwide hit; a fading etching in
baby boomers’ aging minds.
King was never a great rock and roll singer, but then again, he never claimed that he was. After the
success of “Everyone’s Gone,” King issued further flakies, charting in the States with only one other single,
“Where The Sun Has Never Shone” (#97, 1966). But more importantly, this upright lad became the
assistant to Sir Edward Lewis, head of Decca’s London office. At Decca, and later at his own U. K.
Records label, King discovered and produced acts like the Bay City Rollers, Genesis, Hedgehoppers
Anonymous, the Kursaal Flyers, and IOcc, to name but a few.
Jonathan also has the distinction of appearing on the British charts under more guises than any other
bloke in all of popdom. In addition to eight further homeland chartings under the “Jonathan King”
monicker, King had hits under pseudonyms like Father Abraphart and The Smurps (“Lick a Smurp for
Christmas!’), Bubblerock (“Satisfaction”), 53rd and 3rd (“Chick-A-Boom”), 100 Ton and a Feather (“It
Only Takes A Minute”), Sakharin (a heavy metal version of “Sugar Sugar”), Shag (“Loop Di Love”), Sound
9418 (“In the Mood”), The Weathermen (“It’s The Same Old Song”), and possibly untold others. Other less
successful King personae include Nemo, the Piglets, Robin Jack, Saccharine, and St. Cecilia.