John Kay (musician)

John Kay
John Kay at the 2007 Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival
Background information
Birth name	Joachim Fritz Krauledat
Born	April 12 1944 (1944-04-12) (age 64)
Origin	Tilsit, Germany
Genre(s)	Rock Blues Folk
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1964 - present
Label(s)	Dunhill Records Mums Records Epic Records MCA Records Mercury Records Attic Records Qwil Records I.R.S. Records K-Tel Records Winter Harvest Records CMC International Cannonball Records Rainman Records
Associated acts	The Sparrows Steppenwolf The John Kay Band John Kay & Steppenwolf
Website	Official Site

John Kay (born 12 April 1944 as Joachim Fritz Krauledat in Tilsit, East Prussia) is a German-born Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist known as the front man of Steppenwolf. In the Neil Young biography, Shakey, Neil Young attributes his guitar style to the influence of John Kay; both are Canadians. After the Expulsion of Germans after World War II and the annexation of the northern part of East Prussia by the Soviet Union, Kay's mother also fled the Soviet occupied East Germany in 1948 to resettle in Hanover, West Germany (as recounted in his song "Renegade" on the album Steppenwolf Seven). Young Joachim had listened to the music broadcast by the American Forces Network before moving to Canada in 1958. He joined a blues rock and folk music group known as The Sparrow in 1965, which had moderate success in Canada before moving to California, augmenting its line-up and changing its name to Steppenwolf in 1967. With more aggressive music, that pioneered hard rock and heavy metal, Kay's Steppenwolf had international success with songs such as "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride", "Monster", "The Pusher", and "Rock Me", which was multiplied by the use of "Born to Be Wild" and "The Pusher" in the 1969 movie Easy Rider. Kay recorded both as a solo artist and with Steppenwolf during the late 1970s, and is wrapping up Steppenwolf's 40th year of touring with a final gig in October 2007. In 2004 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, in recognition of his early years as a Canadian citizen and the beginnings of his musical career in Toronto. Whereas any celebrity that meets criteria can finance their way into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, inductees to Canada's Walk of Fame are selected via a supervising committee, and thus must earn their honour. John Kay was present at the induction ceremony in Toronto, and reiterated his strong affection for Canada. Kay suffers from congenital achromatopsia, a defect of the eyes which causes legal blindness, complete colorblindness, and increased sensitivity to light, the latter of which being the reason he wears his trademark sunglasses to combat. Despite this condition, he is an avid videographer.

External links

• Steppenwolf's official website
• Kay's Biography

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