Wonderland Burlesque: Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: King

Sunday, May 31, 2026

Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: King

Wonderland Burlesque's

Down The Rabbit Hole:

King

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at the music and brief history of the UK's pop band King.

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From Wikipedia:

King was an English new wave band which formed in 1984. They achieved chart success in 1985, and are best known for their hit single Love & Pride, which reached #2 in the UK. The band had two Top 20 albums and five Top 30 singles in the space of a year.

Hailing from Coventry, the band formed from the remnants of a rock-ska band called the Reluctant Stereotypes. along with producer Paul Sampson. The group, then known as The Raw Screens, perfected their act and style to what Paul King and his manager Perry Haines called 'Multi Tone', a reference to Two Tone. In 1983, the group became known as the band King, taken from the surname of lead singer Paul King.

The group consisted of: Paul King (vocals, piano), Mick Roberts (keyboards, synthesizers, piano, backing vocals), Tony Wall (bass guitar), Jim 'Jackal' Lantsbery (guitar, backing vocals), and John Hewitt, Adrian Lillywhite, Colin Heanes (drums).

They made quite the fashion statement; Paul King sported a mullet haircut and spray-painted Doc Marten's Boots – a look described "like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The band released two UK Top 20 albums on CBS, both produced and mixed by Richard James Burgess, who also played drums on most of the debut album, Steps In Time. The second album Bitter Sweet, featured Adrian Lillywhite on drums. Both albums were certified gold and produced five hit singles, the most successful being the UK #2 hit, Love & Pride, which was King's only single to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #55.

Despite a year of success, the band split up in 1986 - likely due to a combination of creative differences and personal circumstances. In 1987, Paul King released a solo album entitled Joy, produced by American producer Dan Hartman. It failed to make much of an impact. After that, he briefly worked as a VJ for MTV and later worked for MTV Networks Europe, producing shows for VH1 and MTV.

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