John King, the founder of Memphis’ Ardent Records, an inspirational music legend and radio historian, has died.
King’s family confirmed his death on Monday morning. He was 78 years old.
An indomitable charmer from the golden years of the Memphis music business, King is perhaps best known for his efforts as a frontman for ’70s Memphis pop band Big Star — whose debut album, “# 1 Record,” released 50 years ago. . “If it wasn’t for John, nobody would know Big Star,” said team coordinator Jody Stephens. “He was a creative and passionate man.”
King famously helped revive the band after it briefly split in 1973, making it the centerpiece of a one-off event in Memphis, known as the National Rock Writers’ Convention. “John had that independent spirit, the spirit of Memphis, to think outside the box,” said Robert Gordon, author of the Bluff music history “It’s From Memphis.”
“I was not afraid of the fact that no one had ever tried and collected the leading writers of [the country]. John knew the value of flying to Memphis – the good press that Ardent would see in return,” said Gordon. “It’s a legendary event, even still. In no small part because it revived Big Star, releasing their second album, ‘Radio City’.”
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King was also an avid record collector, and the gift of his archive — 30,000 45 rpm singles, 10,000 LPs, 20,000 CDs and more than 1,000 pieces of musical ephemera — will form the foundation of the Memphis Listening Lab’s audio library. opening at the Crosstown Center in 2021.
“It’s the biggest collection I’ve ever seen,” said Shangri-La Records founder Sherman Willmott, who helped open the Memphis Listening Lab. “John always wanted his collection to end up in a place that could be enjoyed. The fact that we were able to do it in Memphis was the fulfillment of John’s dreams.
“It’s a wonderful thing for Memphis and for the music fans who come to Memphis from all over the world. It’s an amazing legacy for John to leave behind.”
The collection kept growing
Born into a wealthy family and raised in East Memphis, King fell into adulthood as rock ‘n’ roll exploded, with the Bluff City serving as ground zero for music. “At 12 or 13, that’s when I started collecting records,” King recalled in a 2021 interview with The Business Appeal. See the article : Conversation as one of the fine arts. “When I get my teeth into something I can’t let go. So that’s how the collection started… and why it kept growing.”
As much as he loved music, King also loved radio broadcasting. In 1950s Memphis, radio was the dominant cultural force, with legendary stations like WHBQ and WDIA at the top, while DJs like Dewey Phillips were as much stars as the artists they spun.
“I really loved radio and that whole world. “From a young age I subscribed to [art music trade magazine] Billboard and read it cover to cover,” recalled King, who attended the University of Memphis.
With record label connections gathered from Billboard, King – a natural business type – actually started his own radio station, after a fashion. “My friend [and MUS classmate] John Fry had a fake radio station, WHJR, and we would send out these requests to titles we found on Billboard asking for records,” King recalled. In the early-’60s, King and Fry adapted to a real facility, a small KCAT in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and worked there for a while.
In 1961, while still young, King, Fry and another friend (and future FedEx founder) Fred Smith formed Ardent Records – following the traditions of the Memphis business such as Sun, Hi and Stax. Ardent’s previous acts included rockers like the Ole Miss Downbeats, and King took the lead in promoting the records.
After “failing” MUS, King was sent to a private school in New Jersey. “I liked it because I would go to Atlantic City on the weekends, and these Philly girls would come to town, and they loved me,” King recalled. “But what I really loved was radio — especially in those days, where radio was really a regional phenomenon. When I came back east, I’d go and bother with all the radio in Philadelphia, just trying to learn and be around the business. stay.”
After graduating from high school, King attended Southern University at Sewanee. He eventually joined the Air Force where he managed to get his hands on equipment – an IBM Selectric and a Gestetner mimeograph machine – and began writing and printing radio tip sheets, from which he would take subsequent recordings for directors. program. “I managed to not make money from it, but I had fun doing it,” King said.
Back to Memphis
Returning to Memphis in the late-’60s, King continued to run the show, working at National Ardent Studios where his old friend John Fry built a famous recording facility. Read also : Burger King Add High Tech Vegan Chicken to the Menu in Chile.
The studio eventually moved to its current location on Madison in Midtown, where King also became part owner of the neighboring Dick’s Bar, a popular watering hole for musicians during the period.
As Ardent—both the studio and the associated label—grew in the early 1970s thanks to a partnership with Stax Records, King became the company’s head of marketing and PR.
Most famously, King came up with the idea to hold the first (and only) convention of the National Rock Writers Association in 1973. The multi-day meeting was attended by over 100 rock writers from around the country. All in all, the conference will help define the profession more rigorously. Beloved Memphis pop band Big Star, who reformed to play the event to much acclaim.
Even after Stax folded in 1976, and Ardent went back into the studio business, King would continue to work on radio promotions and continue to add to his record collection. “I was a member of NARAS, and as a member they used to send out these monthly reports, where you could check the albums you wanted,” King said. “That’s how I kept collecting without going broke.”
In the early 2000s, King decided to use that collection to indulge his lifelong passion for broadcasting in a modern way, launching an internet radio station called Tiger Radio, which produced his own original radio station. reward the DJs he would listen to. growing up.
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A lab for listening pleasure
In 2018, King – then retired and dealing with some health issues – began to think about dealing with his large record collection, which he lived in a rented office space in Poplar. This may interest you : Kicker – Hidden fast food | THE WORLD.
The following year, Willmott was tasked with a group of anonymous Memphis volunteers and Crosstown art organizers to find a way to turn King’s large private collection into a public space in the Crosstown Concourse. The idea of a listening library, or listening lab, was born.
In April 2019, King’s collection was moved to a storage facility in Crosstown as the building began converting the second story space — the kitchen area of the former Sears building — into a well-appointed storage and library for study, research, and, most importantly for the King, listening pleasure.
When he visited the Memphis Listening Lab that was completed in the summer of 2021, King seemed deeply moved that his life’s work would live on. “We’re very happy that they were able to do this,” King said. “They keep saying how lucky they are to have all my stuff, but I think I’m lucky as hell.”
A private family service for King is planned, but a public memorial at the Memphis Lab hearing will take place at a later date. The King family requests that memorial contributions be made directly to the Memphis Hearing Lab.
