Kim Fowley

One of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock and roll, Kim Fowley was, over the course of his decades-long career, a true jack-of-all-trades; a singer, songwriter, producer and manager -- as well as a disc jockey and published poet -- he was the catalyst behind much of the music to emerge from the Los Angeles area during the 1960s and 1970s, guiding his associates and proteges to fame and fortune while remaining himself a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream. The son of actor Douglas Fowley (Singin' in the Rain), he was born July 27, 1942 in L.A., and made his first recordings with drummer Sandy Nelson during the late 1950s. After working with a number of short-lived groups including the Paradons and the Innocents, Fowley found his first taste of success by producing the Top 20 hit "Cherry Pie" for schoolmates Gary S. Paxton and Skip Battin, who performed under the name Skip and Flip. With Battin, Fowley next created the group the Hollywood Argyles, topping the charts in 1960 with the novelty smash "Alley Oop." The duo subsequently masterminded Paul Revere and the Raiders' first hit "Long Hair," and in 1962 launched the Rivingtons, scoring with the classic "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow." Another novelty hit, B. Bumble and the Stingers' "Nut Rocker," reached number one in the U.K., and in 1964 Fowley even began handling promotion chores for singer P.J. Proby. In the mid-1960s, Fowley became immersed in the Los Angeles counter-culture, befriending Frank Zappa and his band the Mothers of Invention and later appearing on their Freak Out! LP. A prolific songwriter, he also composed material for the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Soft Machine, Cat Stevens and Them, and produced the likes of Gene Vincent, Warren Zevon and Helen Reddy. Finally, in 1967...