Quick. Name a rock and roll star born in East Prussia? Hell, name anyone from E. Prussia. Bra-a-ap! Time’s up! The only answer to the first question is Joachim Fritz Krauledat from Tilsit (then Germany; now Russia). He is better known as John Kay, the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for rock icon, Steppenwolf.
John Kay traveled a hard road, and that was long before boarding a rock and roll tour bus. He was born on April 12, 1944, in the midst of WWII, in a place that would soon be behind the Iron Curtain. His father was a German soldier killed in action before he was born. In early 1945, the Russians were advancing and East Prussia was being evacuated. His mother fled with her baby boy to Arnstedt, East Germany. They lived in what became the Soviet occupation zone until 1948. John’s earliest memory is their nighttime escape, gunfire included, across the Hartz Mountains and the Iron Curtain to Hanover, West Germany. John grew up in Hanover, living there for the next 10 years. He didn’t speak English, and had a birth defect. He is legally blind (20/200 vision) and totally color-blind. Understandably, sound and music were critical to him. Early on, it was Russian Cossack folk music. In West Germany, it was the music on US Armed Forces Radio – songs about America, its culture of personal freedom, and by the mid-50s, music that gave him goose-bumps, Little Richard and rock and roll.
John’s mother remarried and in 1958, she and his stepfather moved the little family to Toronto, Canada. Being a new kid with no friends, no English and wearing dark glasses all the time, John spent much of his time alone, listening to the radio. Now, though, he was listening to stations all over the US and Canada, playing everything from blues, to country, to gospel, and of course, rock and roll. John learned English, in part from the radio, and learned to play guitar and harmonica. The family moved to Buffalo, NY, and then to Santa Monica, CA. In 1963, John was trekking around the US and Canada as a folk singer, when he was invited to join the Sparrows, a blues rock band in Toronto that had just separated from its lead singer. The Sparrows became popular in the Toronto clubs and began playing New York clubs as well. In 1967, they left Canada for California, bouncing back and forth between LA and SF.
Sparrow, as it became known, split up and some members reformed behind John to record new songs for a demo. When it came to putting the band name on the box, the guy living in the house next to where they rehearsed suggested the name of a book he had read, Steppenwolf, by Hermann Hesse. The group was signed and put out an album. The first two singles went nowhere, but “Born To Be Wild” hit the mark. Then Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper came calling and wanted to use that song, and their version of Hoyt Axton’s “The Pusher” in their movie Easy Rider.
Steppenwolf put out half a dozen albums before breaking up in 1972. John put out two solo albums, and then reunited the band for a farewell tour of Europe in 1974. They broke up again in 1976. In 1980, John sued a number of bands that were playing clubs under the name Steppenwolf. He regained control of the name and began touring as John Kay & Steppenwolf, and has continued to do so ever since. He is the only original member. The group has sold over 35 million albums, and placed 12 Billboard Hot 100 singles (6 top 40; 3 top 10: “Born To Be Wild” “Magic Carpet Ride” and “Rock Me”).
In 1989, John and his wife relocated to 145 acres located outside of Nashville, TN. More recently, they moved to Vancouver, BC. He has a foundation dedicated to wildlife preservation and human rights. And, despite his disability is a videographer.
Happy Birthday to John Kay – leader of the "Wolf" pack!
