Bill King - Goodbye Superdad 1973

While growing up in Jefferson, Indiana, King he devoted much of his time as a youth to studies with W.C. Handy’s former pianist Eva Smith, the Louisville Academy of music’s Don Murray, and Indiana University saxophonist/educator Jamey Aebersold. As a teenager he had won sixteen first place awards in classical piano and clarinet competitions. In 1963 he won a scholarship to Oscar Peterson’s Advanced School of Contemporary Music and in 1964 another scholarship to Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
By 1966, King had relocated to New York and began performing with local community orchestras and big bands. He was a member of The Shadows in 1966 when they hit the Billboard Top 50 with 'Moanin’. This led to work encounters with The Shangri-Las, Dick and Dee Dee, Freddy Cannon, The Dovells, and Ronnie Dove. He opened for The Beach Boys on three occasions, and appeared with the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars. By 1968, King had left his house piano gig at Louis Jordan's club in Greenwich Village and relocated to Los Angeles where he became Linda Ronstadt’s Music Director and pianist alongside the late Andrew Gold. A year later, he joined Janis Joplin’s Kozmic Blues Band.
King relocated to Toronto for the first time in 1969, signing a recording contract with Capitol Records who would release two albums over the next few years (‘Goodbye Superdad’ and ‘Dixie Peach’) with King as leader. The song "Goodbye Superdad" was the first of many charting singles hits for him which peaked at No. 39 on in June 1973.
He returned to Los Angeles in 1976 as Music Director for vocalist Martha Reeves. While on a European tour with Reeves, he was persuaded to join The Pointer Sisters and spent the next year touring Japan and the USA as their Music Director. He moved back to Toronto permanently in the late ‘70s to form the rock group Kearney, King, and McBride who re-christened themselves China for their self-titled album on Epic Records
Mark Sutherland approached King about doing an experimental poetry project set to music in 1985. The result was a cassette and an LP under the name The BarKING Boys & Yes Girls.
In 1987, he focused on more jazz oriented pursuits, establishing a publishing and record company - Night Passage Records - to release recordings of the Bill King Quartet and Quintet respectively. He also started a syndicated radio show called 'The Jazz Report' which ran from 1989 through 1991.
With partner Greg Sutherland they founded ‘The Jazz Report‘ Magazine and began the Radioland Record label in 1992, signing a major manufacturing and distribution deal with Verve/Polygram Canada a year later.
In the '90s he created the The Jazz Report All-Stars which showcased some of Toronto's top drawer jazz musicians. King now runs the Beaches Jazz Festival in Toronto and his photo collection can be seen on the walls Toronto's Rex Hotel.

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