King

The 1980s saw another band gain great success from the city of Coventry. The Specials and the Selector earned rave reviews in the start up of the Ska music and the set up of the infamous 2 Tone label. Another band that came from Coventry was new wave band King.

King formed in 1984 and the band consisted of Paul King, Mick Roberts, Tony Wall and Jim Lantsbery. There early influences was Ska music which was prevalent around that time in Coventry and the midlands and they carried on in that vain.

The Ska movement came to a natural end so the band had to adapt to the changing scene of Britain and the band changed image and there genre of music.

Paul King went for a radical look with long hair and spiky on top wearing sprayed Doc Marten's and the band followed suit with a large array of hair and bright colours. The band existence was only 2 years but they made a significant impact on the album and single charts.

Initially the single 'Love and Pride' was released in 1984 but failed to make any impact on the chart but following an appearance on Saturday Morning TV programme performing the song, the song was re-released and hit the heights of number 2 in the UK singles chart. The band released 2 albums debuting with 'steps in time' in 1984 and the album reached number 6 in the UK album charts. The follow up was 'bitter sweet' which peaked at number 16 and soon after the band disbanded.

In terms of singles the band enjoyed 5 top 30 hits, begiining with the most successful 'love and pride' at number 2. The follow up 'won't you hold my hand now' reached 24, towards the end of 1985 'alone without you' hit the top 10 and reached number 8 and 'the taste of your tears' reached number 11. Early 1986 saw the last single release 'torture' reach number 23.

Soon after that Paul King disbanded King and pursued a solo career but unfortunately was not as successful. He went on famously to be a VJ (video Jockey) for MTV and latterly VH1 working mainly on the charts and vintage music. Although there existence was short it had successes with there music, style and the videos they produced. Paul King also helped revolutionise the VJ role and gave TV and music a whole new dimention.
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