KEVIN KING

Kevin King was born in Roseville, Sydney, NSW in 1931. He became interested in country music after hearing Tex Morton singing ''Rocky Ned'' on the radio. A self-taught guitarist, Kevin entered various talent quests winning for himself a guitar as first prize on Radio 2CH, Sydney. In 1951 he entered the Tim McNamara Talent Quest and won a heat. Kevin teamed up with guitar picker Pat Ware playing many pubs, clubs, charity shows and radio programs. In 1952 he signed with the Regal Zonophone label and cut a couple of singles. One of the songs was the now famous old 78rpm, ''Rub-A-Dub-Dub'' backed by ''With This Ring I Thee Wed'', which sold about 20,000 copies. Moving to the Columbia label in the late 50s he recorded a number of singles and an EP with them until the early 70s.

In the 60s he settled in Sydney and became resident singer with his band at the Texas Tavern, Kings Cross, entertaining American servicemen on R&R from Vietnam. He then moved to the Crystal Palace Hotel, in Railway Square, where he stayed for five years. From there he moved to the Regent Street Transport Club where he stayed for a further five years. This 11-year period was a boom time for country music artists. He worked with all the leading acts such as Cowboy Bob Purtell, Jan Kelly, Phil and Tommy Emmanuel, Kenny Kitching, Allan Caswell, Lee Brittan, Mort Fist (Erskineville Slim), Doug Castle and Terry Smith.

In the early 1970s, Kevin was asked by Slim Dusty to join him and his family, Michael Cooke and Barry Thornton to travel to New Guinea on his show. In this era, he emerged as a studio musician in demand to play on tracks for Tex Morton, Johnny Ashcroft, Slim Dusty, Lionel Long, Buddy Williams, Gordon Parsons and Smoky Dawson. These sessions required Kevin to play rhythm and acoustic guitar, harmonica and Dobro steel guitar. In 1977 he was Inducted into the Tamworth Hands of Fame. In the late 1980s, Kevin returned to the studio to record an album, 'Kevin King Sings In Ernest', a 13-track recording saluting the music of Ernest Tubb. King has made compilation albums of his early 45 and 78rpm recordings of , which are available from his website. In 2007 Kevin King was elevated to the Tamworth Roll of Renown. Kevin King died in 2023.

SINGLES

''The High Cost Of Living / Someday You'll Call My Name'' 1958 Columbia
''It's A Boy / It's A Great Life'' 1958 Columbia
''My Son Calls Another Man Daddy / Somebody'Ughed' On You ''1958 Columbia
''The Girl On The Dance Floor / I'm Gonna Celebrate Now'' 1958 Columbia
''I Don't Love You Anymore / The Girl In Green'' 1967 Festival
''Swingin' Doors / Wabash Cannonball'' 1969 Columbia

EPs

'I Take A Lot Of Pride' 1971 Columbia