Biography

Greg Kihn began his career in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, working in the singer/songwriter mold, but switched to straightforward rock & roll when he moved to San Francisco in 1974. The following year, he became one of the first artists signed to Matthew Kaufman's now-legendary Beserkley Records. Along with Jonathan Richman, Earthquake, and the Rubinoos, Kihn helped to carve the label's sound -- melodic pop with a strong '60s pop sensibility -- a refreshing alternative to the bloated prog rock of the time. In 1976, after his debut on the compilation Beserkley Chartbusters, he recorded his first album with his own band consisting of Ronnie Dunbar (guitar), Steve Wright (bass), and Larry Lynch (drums). Through the '70s, he released an album each year and built a strong cult following through constant touring, becoming Beserkley's biggest seller. In 1981, he earned his first bona fide hit with the Top 20 single "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)," from the Rockihnroll album. He continued in a more commercial vein through the '80s with a series of pun-titled albums: Kihntinued (1982), Kihnspiracy (1983), Kihntagious (1984), and Citizen Kihn (1985). He scored his biggest hit with 1983's "Jeopardy" (number two) from the Kihnspiracy album. One more single broke the Top 40, 1985's "Lucky," but by the time Love and Rock and Roll was released in 1986, the puns had run out and so had the hits. Kihn kept a relatively low profile throughout the '90s, releasing a pair of acoustic albums, Mutiny in 1994 and Horror Show in 1996. By the time Kihn released All the Right Reasons in mid-2000, he was also hosting a popular radio show on San Jose, California's KUFX-FM. Kihn was also a published author, releasing his first novel, Horror Show, in 1996; he produced five more novels between 1998 and 2015, and edited a collection, Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians, that included tales by Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, and Joan Jett, among others. Kihn returned to music in 2017, releasing a new album fittingly titled Rekihndled. ~ Chris Woodstra, Rovi