Murray the K
Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential New York City rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he frequently referred to himself as the fifth Beatle.
Murray the K
February 14, 1922
February 21, 1982 (aged 60)
1958–1981
Early life[edit]
Murray Kaufman came from a show business family: his mother, Jean, played piano in vaudeville and wrote music and his aunt was a character actress on the stage and in film. He was a child actor—an extra—in several 1930s Hollywood films. He attended Peekskill Military Academy, a military boarding school, and he was later inducted into the United States Army where he arranged entertainment for the troops. Following the war, he put together shows in the Catskills' "Borscht Belt", also doing warm-ups for the headline performers.
Records, television, stage, and syndication[edit]
Throughout his radio career, from the 1950s through the 1970s, Murray also released numerous LP record albums, often compilations of hits by the acts that appeared in his famous Brooklyn Fox shows. These albums frequently had names such as Murray the K's Blasts from the Past or Murray the K's Sing Along with the Original Golden Gassers. He also released two albums of shows recorded live from the Brooklyn Fox Theatre: Murray the K's Holiday Revue (1964) and Greatest Holiday Revue (1966), combined on the two-record set Live as it Happened (1976).
"Meusurray" (named after a language game Murray invented and based on a technique used by carnival barkers to attract a crowd was a regular shtick on his 1010 WINS radio show)[8] was a single by the girl group The Delicates, released on the United Artists label. The Delicates were Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti and Peggy Santiglia ("Murray's Original Dancing Girls") They wrote the song which was arranged by Don Costa. The Delicates also wrote and recorded his "Submarine Race Watcher" theme, used to open and close his radio show. It was during the "twist craze" that Kaufman introduced a song sung by an unidentified artist named, "The Lone Twister", which in fact was Murray.
In the mid-1960s, Murray also produced and hosted television variety shows featuring rock performers. The best known was a national broadcast entitled It's What's Happening, Baby which was made under the auspices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The show aired on June 28, 1965 and featured performances by many of the popular artists of the day, including Jan & Dean, Mary Wells, the Dave Clark Five, The Supremes, The Drifters, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, The Ronettes and The Righteous Brothers. He also ran shows with British Invasion bands that included The Zombies and The Yardbirds (who featured both Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame, on guitar). That show also introduced the first music video-style programming, pre-dating MTV by 15 years.
In 1966, Murray collaborated with media art collective USCO to design and produce the psychedelic multimedia event The World, which took place in the Roosevelt Field abandoned airplane hangar in Long Island and was dubbed the first discotheque.[9][10][11] Live and recorded music played while slides and film were projected onto the crowd. Music acts that performed included The Young Rascals, The Hollies, Del Shannon, The Isley Brothers, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.[10] The World was featured on the cover of Life magazine in May 1966.[9]
In 1967, Murray produced and wrote "Murray the K in New York" which expanded on the music video-style approach he began in It's What's Happening, Baby and featured an eclectic line-up of stars, including The Doors, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Spanky & Our Gang, and The Four Tops with guest appearances by Ed Sullivan and Joe Namath.
Other locally broadcast shows from the period included "Murray the K at Shea" with James Brown and The Four Seasons and "Music in the Year 2000."
In 1968, Murray produced and hosted a studio panel discussion program entitled "The Sound is Now"; it included appearances by Phil Ochs and Sonny and Cher who were grilled by Henry Morgan and Tex McCrary.
During the early 1970s, Murray acted as a special consultant to the stage show Beatlemania, and he toured the country giving interviews on behalf of the show.
In Los Angeles in the late 1970s he hosted Watermark's syndicated Soundtrack of the '60s until ill health forced him to resign and forced the cancellation of A Salute to Murray the K, a tribute concert slated for Madison Square Garden.
Family and death[edit]
He was married six times and had three sons, Peter (Altschuler), Jeff and Keith. His first wife, Anna May, died in childbirth. He was married to his second, Toni, for three years; his third, Beverly, for three months; his fourth, Claire, for about nine years in the 1950s; his fifth, Jackie Hayes (called "Jackie the K"), from January 1960 until September 1978; and finally, his sixth, actress Jackie Zeman, for just one year, although they were together for seven years before marrying.
Kaufman died of cancer a week after his 60th birthday on February 21, 1982.[12]