Born: Joachim Fritz Krauledat on April 12, 1944 in Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian Federation.

Kay grew up in East Germany, fuelled by a steady diet of Armed Forces Radio. Little Richard and Chuck Berry was a couple of his earliest influences. At 14, he and his mother left the country, and moved to Toronto. He learned English by listening to radio disc jockeys and music from the artists of the day.

By his mid-teens, he was performing on amateur radio shows. After high school, John roamed North America, performing acoustic blues in coffee houses and bars. He joined The Sparrow while playing Toronto's Yorkville in 1965. They had been home to Jack London and were his backing band on several of his Canadian hits. In 1965 they recorded an album with London on Columbia Records before leaving him to pursue their own, only official single "Hard Time with the Law".

With John Kay's growing popularity in Yorkville, it was only a matter of time before he connected with the band in May of 1966. They would record several singles and one album as John Kay And Sparrow helping solidify their popularity as a touring act in the US. Less than a year later Sparrow broke up and John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Goldy McJohn and Nick St. Nicholas re-emerged as Steppenwolf. Dennis Edmonton – now known as Mars Bonfire – went off to pursue a solo career.

The band relocated to San Francisco via New York and became part of the Bay Area music scene, then moved on to L.A. where it broke up in 1967. Shortly after, John formed Steppenwolf and the group's debut was released in 1968. "Born To Be Wild" was on that album and other classic tracks followed, such as "Magic Carpet Ride," "Rock Me," "Monster," "Sookie, Sookie" and "The Pusher." The original version of Steppenwolf split up in 1972.

With Steppenwolf’s contract still needing to be fulfilled with ABC-Dunhill, Kay recorded his first solo album instead entitled ‘Forgotten Songs And Unsung Heroes’. He followed that with ‘My Sportin’ Life’ in 1974.

With his obligations fulfilled to ABC-Dunhill, key decided to hit the road as John Kay and Steppenwolf featuring a new line-up. With their new found popularity the band was signed to Mum Records with distribution through Epic.

John Kay and Steppenwolf would go on to release more than a dozen albums, including 1996's live double CD, 'Live at 25'. The most recent band line-up consisted of Kay, his long time writing partner keyboardist and co-producer Michael Wilk, drummer/vocalist Ron Hurst and lead guitarist/vocalist Steve Fister.

Total album sales are in excess of 20 million units world-wide, and the group continues to tour annually. The last few years have featured some benchmark accomplishments and recognition for Kay. His autobiography, 'Magic Carpet Ride', was published by Quarry Press in 1994.

In 1996 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, installed a memorabilia display devoted to the group.




Singles
as JOHN KAY
1972 I’m Movin’ On/Walk Beside Me (ABC-Dunhill) D-4309
1972 Somebody/You Win Again (ABC-Dunhill) D-4319
1973 Moonshine (Friend of Mine)/Nobody Lives Here Anymore (ABC-Dunhill) D-4351
1973 Easy Evil/Dance To My Song (ABC-Dunhill) D-4360
1973 She Said The Same Things To Me (ABC-Dunhill)
1978 Give Me Some News I Can Use/Say You Will (Mercury) 74-004

with THE SPARROW
1966 Tomorrow's Ship/Isn't It Strange (Columbia) 4-43755
1966 Green Bottle Lover/Down Goes Your Life (Columbia) 4-43960

with JOHN KAY AND THE SPARROW
1968 Square Headed People/Twisted (Columbia) 4-44769

with STEPPPENWOLF
1967 A Girl I Knew/The Ostrich (ABC-Dunhill) D-4019
1968 Sookie Sookie/Take What You Need (ABC-Dunhill) D-4123
1968 Born To Be Wild/Everybody's Next One (ABC-Dunhill) D-4138
1968 Magic Carpet Ride/Sookie Sookie (ABC-Dunhill) D-4161
1969 Rock Me/Jupiter Child (ABC-Dunhill) D-4182
1969 It's Never Too Late/Happy Birthday (ABC-Dunhill) D-4192
1969 Move Over/Power Play (ABC-Dunhill) D-4205
1969 Monster/Berry Rides Again (ABC-Dunhill) D-4221
1970 Hey Lawdy Mama/Twisted (ABC-Dunhill) D-4234
1970 Screaming Night Hog/Spiritual Fantasy (ABC-Dunhill) D-4248
1970 Who Needs Ya/Earschplittenloudenboomer (ABC-Dunhill) D-4261
1971 Snow Blind Friend/Hippo Stomp (ABC-Dunhill) D-4269
1971 Ride With Me/For Madmen Only (ABC-Dunhill) D-4283
1971 For Ladies Only/Sparkles Eyes (ABC-Dunhill) D-4292

with JOHN KAY AND STEPPENWOLF
1974 Straight Shootin' Woman/Justice Don’t Be Slow (Mums/Epic) 6031
1974 Get Into The Wind/Morning Blue (Mums/Epic) ZS-86034
1975 Smokey Factory Blues/Fool's Fantasy (Epic)
1975 Caroline (Are You Ready for the Outlaw)/Angel Drawers (Epic)
1987 Rock & Roll Rebels/[same] [12”] (Qwil/K-Tel) NU-1566
1987 Give Me Life/Man On A Mission (Intercord - NL) 1081
1990 We Like It, We Love It / Now and Forever (I.R.S. - Germany)
1990 Do or Die/Let’s Do It All Again (I.R.S. - Germany)
1990 Rock ‘n’ Roll War (I.R.S. – Germany)

Albums
as JOHN KAY
1972 Forgotten Songs and Unsung Heroes (ABC-Dunhill) 50120
1973 My Sportin’ Life (ABC-Dunhill)
1978 All In Good Time (Mercury) SRM-1-3715
1997 The Lost Heritage Tapes [circa 1976] (CMC - Europe) 823941
2001 Heretics & Privateers (CrossCut - Germany) CCD-12004

with THE SPARROW
2008 The Complete CBS Recordings: 1966-67 (Rev-Ola – UK) CRREV-234

with JOHN KAY AND (THE) SPARROW
1969 John Kay And The Sparrow (Columbia) 9758
1993 The Best Of John Kay: Tighten Up Your Wig (Columbia) CK-53044

with STEPPENWOLF
1968 Steppenwolf (ABC-Dunhill) 50029
1968 Steppenwolf The Second (ABC-Dunhill) 50037
1968 At Your Birthday Party (ABC-Dunhill) DSX-50053
1969 Early Steppenwolf (ABC-Dunhill) DS-50060
1969 Monster (ABC-Dunhill) DS-50066
1970 Steppenwolf Live (ABC-Dunhill) DSD-50075
1970 Steppenwolf 7 (ABC-Dunhill) DSX-50090
1971 Steppenwolf Gold (ABC-Dunhill) SX-50099
1971 For Ladies Only (ABC-Dunhill) DSX-50110
1972 Rest In Peace (ABC-Dunhill) DSX-50124
1973 16 Greatest Hits (ABC-Dunhill) DSX-50135
1975 16 Great Performances (ABC) ABCD-4011
1976 The ABC Collection (ABC) AC-30008

with JOHN KAY AND STEPPENWOLF
1974 Slow Flux (Mums/Epic) PZ-33093
1975 Hour Of The Wolf (Epic) PE-33583
1976 Skullduggery (Epic) PE-34120
1976 Reborn To Be Wild (Epic) PE-34382
1981 Live In London (Mercury/Polygram - Australia) 6437147
1982 Wolftracks (Attic/Wolf) LAT-1145
1984 Paradox (Attic/Wolf) LAT-1191
1987 Rock 'N' Roll Rebels (Qwil) NU-1560
1990 Rise & Shine (IRS) IRSD-82046
1991 Born To Be Wild: A Retrospective (MCA) MCAD2-10389
1995 Live At 25 (ERA) 5030
1996 Feed The Fire (Winter Harvest) WH3310-2
1998 Wolftracks (Nautilus/Attic)


Video


Compilation Tracks