Greg Kihn the rock singer-songwriter who scored with “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song
(They Don’t Write ‘Em)” helping to define an era of power pop in the
1980s, died Tuesday at age 75, his family announced in a statement. The
cause of death was complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Alongside with his band The Greg Kihn Band, he reached No, 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981 with "The Breakup Song", but things went even wilder and greater when in 1983, the single "Jeopardy" hit the No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, including the video that became an early staple on the MTV, years later, the single was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic "I Lost On Jeopardy", Kihn was grateful to Yankovic for giving his No. 2 hit even more of an
afterlife than it otherwise would have had. "I loved his version of ‘I
Lost on Jeopardy’," he said. "It was a brilliant parody. Al is a super
talented musician. He invited me to appear in his video and I had a
ball. God bless that man! I still get mailbox money from Weird Al!". Another cool single was "Lucky" released around 1985.
According to Kihn they weren't the same as other San Francisco area bands, "Our music was derived from the British bands like the Who and the
Faces. We were always writing new songs, and the fans came back week
after week to see what we’d come up with. It was all about the songs,
not the jamming".
Before moving to San Francisco in 1972, Kihn grew up in Baltimore, and
won a talent contest sponsored by a local radio station while still in
high school. He signed with Beserkley in 1973, though it would not be
till 1976 that he released his first album, “Greg Kihn. Eventually he established a pattern of pun-fueled titles, with album
releases that included “Next of Kihn” (1978), “RocKihnRoll” (1981),
“Kihntinued” (1982), “Kihntagious” 1984) and “Rekihndled” (2017). Kihn also published six novels, starting with “Horror Show” in 1996.
Kihn was also pleased when “The Breakup Song” got picked up for “Grand
Theft Auto V,” saying the song “is attracting a whole generation of fans
and it’s very exciting. The song has endured many years and shows no
signs of slowing down. It fits well in the game and I am proud to be
part of it. "He was the first to record a Bruce Springsteen song, "Rendezvous",
thanks to the Boss being a fan. Kihn admitted he sang the words wrong,
which involved a funny story. "Bruce would start showing up the gigs and
he showed up when we played at the Roxy in L.A.," he recalled in a 2019 interview.
He was a morning radio host for KFOX for 18 years, beginning in 1996, as
well as a syndicated nighttime radio host. "Of course, while I was
there, it had been bought and sold many times: Clear Channel, Intercom,
Cumulus, all these different various ownerships, and they moved it to
San Francisco to a high rise up there, a penthouse suite of radio
stations… I had great ratings, everything, but I think they fired me
because they were paying me too much money for too long, and I can
totally understand that.” But, he noted, “The day that I got fired was
the day I got inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.
In a 2022 interview,
Kihn admitted he hadn’t always had a healthy lifestyle, and was happy
to still be around. "Everybody would have said that I’d have been the
first one to go, I’m sure… I lucked out. And, you know, life has been
very good to me.
A private memorial celebration for friends and family is expected to be
followed by public celebration of life concert for fans and fellow
musicians, with details to be announced. Kihn is survived by Jay Arafiles-Kihn, his wife; a son, Ryan Kihn, and
daughter, Alexis Harrington-Kihn; Samora Harrington, his son-in-law;
grandsons Nate Harrington-Kihn and Zuri Harrington-Kihn; his sister,
Laura Otremba; Lou Otremba Jr., his brother-in-law), and nephews Larry
Otremba, Lou Otremba III and Matthew Otremba.
In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made in Kihn’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association.
