Kim Fowley, Runaways Producer, Has Died
Iconic L.A. musician Kim Fowley, best known as a producer for the Runaways, has died, RollingStone reports. He was 75. The cause of death has not yet been announced.
Fowley was born in 1939 to actor Douglas Fowley and actress Shelby Payne in Los Angeles. He produced his first single – the Renegades’ “Charge” – in 1959, and has worked with Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Seeds and Gene Vincent, Modern Lovers, Blue Cheer, Helen Reddy, and others. He also co-wrote songs on Kiss’ Destroyer and “Escape” on Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare, and famously asked the audience at John Lennon’s performance at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival to hold up their cigarette lighters, according to RollingStone, “arguably starting the concert fad”.
In addition to releasing his own solo albums– 1968‘s Outrageous was the only one to chart in the U.S.– Fowley is credited with introducing Joan Jett to would-be Runaways drummer Sandy West, frontwoman Cherie Currie, guitarist Lita Ford, and bassist Jackie Fox. Fowley produced the Runaway’s 1976 self-titled debut and co-wrote the band’s biggest hit, “Cherry Bomb”. He also co-produced 1976′s Queens of Noise and 1977′s Waitin’ for the Night, though he and the Runaways severed their ties that same year.
In 2012 Fowley won a special jury prize at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his experimental films Golden Road to Nowhere and BlackRoomDoom.
In 2014, he made an appearance in Beyoncé’s “Haunted” video, and most recently co-wrote some songs on Ariel Pink’s pom pom.
According to Billboard, Fowley had been receiving cancer treatments.
E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt told RollingStone: “Kim Fowley is a big loss to me…A good friend. One of a kind. He’d been everywhere, done everything, knew everybody. He was working in the Underground Garage until last week. We should all have as full a life. I wanted DJs that could tell stories first person. He was the ultimate realization of that concept. Rock Gypsy DNA. Reinventing himself whenever he felt restless. Which was always. One of the great characters of all time. Irreplaceable.”
Read our Starter with Kim Fowley.
Listen to Fowley’s “Animal Man”, “Wildfire”, and “Bubble Gum” from 1968′s Outrageous:
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