Murray the K
Murray the K | |
---|---|
Born | Murray Kaufman February 14, 1922 New York City, United States |
Died | February 21, 1982 Los Angeles, United States | (aged 60)
Occupation | Disc jockey |
Years active | 1958–1981 |
Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential New York City rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he frequently referred to himself as the fifth Beatle.
Early life
Murray Kaufman came from a show business family: his mother, Jean, played
Post-war
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he worked in public relations and as a
Deejay: from AM to FM
"This meeting of the Swingin' Soiree is now in session!"
Kaufman's big break came in 1958 after he moved to WINS/1010 to do the all-night show, which he titled The Swingin' Soiree. Shortly after his arrival, WINS's high-energy star disc jockey, Alan Freed, was indicted for tax evasion and forced off the air. Though Freed's spot was briefly occupied by Bruce Morrow, who later became known as Cousin Brucie on WABC, Murray was soon moved into the 7–11 pm time period and remained there for the next seven years, always opening his show with Sinatra and making radio history with his innovative segues, jingles, sound effects, antics, and frenetic, creative programming. Jeff Rice, writing in M/C Journal,[1] says that Tom Wolfe calls Murray "the original hysterical disk jockey".[2]
"The Fifth Beatle"
Murray the K reached his peak of popularity in the mid-1960s when, as the top-rated radio host in New York City, he became an early and ardent supporter and friend of
Murray came to be referred to as the "Fifth Beatle", a moniker he said he was given by Harrison during the train ride to the Beatles' first concert in Washington, D.C. or by Ringo Starr at a press conference before that concert. (However, in The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit he is seen christening himself thus in a phone conversation with the Beatles on the morning of their arrival in New York.) His radio station WINS picked up on the name and billed him as the Fifth Beatle, a moniker he came to regret.[citation needed] He was invited to the set of A Hard Day's Night in England and made several treks to England during 1964, giving WINS listeners more Beatle exclusives.[3]
The move to FM
By the end of 1964, Murray found out that WINS was going to change to an all-news format the following year. He resigned on the air in December 1964 (breaking news about the sale of the station and the change in format before the station and Group W released it) and did his last show on February 27 prior to the format change that occurred in April 1965. A year later, in 1966, the
Dylan
During that time Murray was often a champion of Bob Dylan during his much-maligned decision to go electric. He introduced him to boos at a huge Forest Hills Tennis Stadium concert in August 1965, saying "It's not rock, it's not folk, it's a new thing called Dylan."[5]
He defended Dylan on a WABC-TV panel:
Even in his months of seclusion after the motorcycle accident, WABC-TV dedicated a television show to a discussion of what Bob Dylan was really like. When one member of the panel accused Dylan of all but inventing juvenile delinquency, there was only Murray the K to defend him. "Is Bob Dylan every kid's father?" Murray asked.[6]
Last years in radio
WOR-FM switched to the tighter and hit-oriented
Brooklyn Fox shows
Throughout his New York radio career, Kaufman produced multi-racial rock 'n' roll shows three or four times a year, usually during the Easter school recess, the week before Labor Day, and between Christmas and New Year at the Brooklyn Fox Theater.[
Records, television, stage, and syndication
Throughout his radio career, from the 1950s through the 1970s, Murray also released numerous LP record albums, often compilations of hits by the acts that appeared in his famous Brooklyn Fox shows. These albums frequently had names such as Murray the K's Blasts from the Past or Murray the K's Sing Along with the Original Golden Gassers. He also released two albums of shows recorded live from the Brooklyn Fox Theatre: Murray the K's Holiday Revue (1964) and Greatest Holiday Revue (1966), combined on the two-record set Live as it Happened (1976).
"Meusurray" (named after a language game Murray invented and based on a technique used by carnival barkers to attract a crowd was a regular shtick on his 1010 WINS radio show)[8] was a single by the girl group The Delicates, released on the United Artists label. The Delicates were Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti and Peggy Santiglia ("Murray's Original Dancing Girls") They wrote the song which was arranged by Don Costa. The Delicates also wrote and recorded his "Submarine Race Watcher" theme, used to open and close his radio show. It was during the "twist craze" that Kaufman introduced a song sung by an unidentified artist named, "The Lone Twister", which in fact was Murray.
In the mid-1960s, Murray also produced and hosted television variety shows featuring rock performers. The best known was a national broadcast entitled
In 1966, Murray collaborated with media art collective
In 1967, Murray produced and wrote "Murray the K in New York" which expanded on the music video-style approach he began in It's What's Happening, Baby and featured an eclectic line-up of stars, including
Other locally broadcast shows from the period included "Murray the K at Shea" with James Brown and The Four Seasons and "Music in the Year 2000."
In 1968, Murray produced and hosted a studio panel discussion program entitled "The Sound is Now"; it included appearances by
During the early 1970s, Murray acted as a special consultant to the stage show Beatlemania, and he toured the country giving interviews on behalf of the show.
In Los Angeles in the late 1970s he hosted Watermark's syndicated Soundtrack of the '60s until ill health forced him to resign and forced the cancellation of A Salute to Murray the K, a tribute concert slated for Madison Square Garden.
Film
Kaufman was parodied in the film The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash as a radio host named Bill Murray the K, played by actor Bill Murray. Kaufman appeared as a guest star on the 1960s television series Coronet Blue and also appeared as himself in the film I Wanna Hold Your Hand. He also appeared in the 1975 film That's the Way of the World.
Family and death
He was married six times and had three sons, Peter (Altschuler), Jeff and Keith. His first wife, Anna May, died in childbirth. He was married to his second, Toni, for three years; his third, Beverly, for three months; his fourth, Claire, for about nine years in the 1950s; his fifth, Jackie Hayes (called "Jackie the K"), from January 1960 until September 1978; and finally, his sixth, actress Jackie Zeman, for just one year, although they were together for seven years before marrying.
Kaufman died of cancer a week after his 60th birthday on February 21, 1982.[12]
Legacy
He shares writing credit with his mother and Bobby Darin for Darin's breakout song, "Splish Splash".[13]
Beginning in 1960, Kaufman's rock 'n' roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount theater (as co-host with Clay Cole), Manhattan's Academy of Music theater on 14th Street and, predominantly, the Brooklyn Fox theater provided an inter-racial environment in which the performers and the audiences both thrived. The week-long, three-shows-a-day presentations continued throughout the most explosive periods of civil rights unrest in the mid-'60s, culminating in Kaufman's final show at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with a line-up that included The Who and Cream in their American debuts.
Murray was the author of a 1966 book, Murray the K Tells It Like It Is, Baby.[14]
Kaufman was program director and primetime evening DJ on the nation's first FM rock station
He is mentioned in the 1980
A recording of Murray the K introducing the band
Murray the K introduced Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as the band took the stage on November 4, 1976 in New York City.[citation needed]
He was inducted into the
Recordings made by Murray Kaufman
- April 1955: Fraternity F-714 "The Crazy Otto Rag" as by Ludwig Von Kaufman/"Out Of The Bushes" as by Murray Kaufman (made while a DJ at WMCA)
- 1959: Murray Kaufman Part 1/Part 2 (Part 1 is a 1010WINS radio jingle item featuring Murray and the Delicates and his themes; Part 2 is his "Ah, Bey, ah bey, koowi zowa zowa" chant, along with an explanation of its meaning.) The chant was lifted intact from a Thomas J. Valentino music library recording (on the Major Records label) entitled "African Drums With Native Chants" on the A side and "Drums (African)", "Native Work Chant (African)", and "Native Choral Chant (African)" on the B side.
- 1961: Atlantic 2130 "The Lone Twister"/"Twistin' Up A Storm" as by The Lone Twister
- 1965: Red Bird 10-045 "It's What's Happenin, Baby"/"The Sins Of A Family" as by 'Murray the "K"'. (The B side was a P. F. Sloan song.)
References
- doi:10.5204/mcj.1903.
- ^ Quoted by Rice as from Wolfe's 1965 book The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (New York: Pocket Books, 1965).
- ^ Read a late 70s interview with Murray, conducted by Martin A. Grove; published in his book Beatle Madness, (Manor, 1978) for more on Murray and the Beatles.
- ^ Al Aronowitz, "The Fifth Beatle, or Everyone Hated Murray", Column 18 of The Blacklisted Journalist February 1, 1997.
- ^ Peter Stone Brown, "You Only Had to Feel Them" Archived 2007-07-03 at the Wayback Machine and this description of the Forest Hills concert
- ^ "Bob Dylan: Rebel King of Rock 'n' Roll", The Saturday Evening Post, 30 July 1966
- ^ See Paul Levinson, "Murray the K in Nostalgia's Noose", The Village Voice, October 26, 1972.
- ISBN 978-0-87930-664-9.
- ^ a b Kuo, Michelle (May 2008). "Special Effects: Michelle Kuo Speaks With Michael Callahan About USCO" (PDF). Artforum. pp. 133–136.
- ^ ISBN 978-0571282005.
- The Bancroft Library. p. 87.
- ^ "Fifth Beatle, 'Murray the K,' Dies". Los Angeles Times. February 23, 1982. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
- ^ Murray's mother Jean suggested that "Splish Splash I was taking a bath" would be a good first line for a song. Bobby Darin and Murray wrote the lyrics; Murray's mother wrote most of the music. The song was credited to "Bobby Darin and Jean Murray" to avoid any possible suggestion of payola if the song became a hit. (Story told at http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1820 and retold in slightly different versions elsewhere.)
- Sybil Burton, Tucker Frederickson, and George Harrison(New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966)
- ^ "Murray "The K" Kaufman". National Radio Hall Of Fame. 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.