The Kings - Biography

The Kings were formed in Vancouver, British Columbia and Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Original members were David Diamond, lead vocals, bass guitar and songwriter, Sonny Keyes, vocals, keyboards and songwriter, Max Styles, drums, and Mister Zero, guitar and songwriter.

The Kings were originally known as WhistleKing and rehearsed, did club gigs and wrote lots of songs for more than three years before going into Nimbus 9 Studio in Toronto to record their first album.

While recording, world famous producer Bob (Pink Floyd) Ezrin dropped by to visit and checked the band out and liked what he heard. He agreed to mix the tracks The Kings had recorded but soon discovered that the whole thing needed to be re-done. He approached Elektra Records in Los Angeles with The Kings' tapes and the unknown band was signed to a world-wide deal.

The Kings did re-record the songs and the project was released as 'The Kings Are Here'. The first single, 'Switchin' To Glide', was put out and did get noticed but the tune was really two songs in one and the band insisted they be released together.

So when the segue 'This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide' was released radio really picked up on it. Even at over five minutes in length, the songs caught on all over the USA and Canada and stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for over six months. It was named one of the Top 100 U.S. Radio Programmers Picks of the Decade by Album Network Magazine and The Kings were named most promising group by Cashbox Magazine.

An amazing apperance on Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand' helped spread the word as well. The album 'The Kings Are Here' went gold in Canada, and since it was re-released on cd as 'The Kings Are Here and More', combined sales have passed platinum status.

The second Ezrin produced Elektra effort 'Amazon Beach' did not fare as well and the band left the label and signed with Capitol Canada which released 'RSVP' which contains the holiday classic 'This Christmas' which gets lots of airplay every yuletide season.

The next studio project was called 'Unstoppable' and the title track reached the Top 10 in Canada. Always a great live band, The Kings have logged close to 2000 shows across North America.

Then came the most recent full length studio album, 'Because of You' which shows the depth and versatility of the songwriting in The Kings.

Now in 2009, there is a lot going on in the Kingdom! The long awaited DVD, "Anatomy of a One-Hit Wonder: The Kings 'This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide'", is finally done and available, this is the ultimate for Kings fans! It features the killer video for "Beat/Switchin'", as well as the original guys talking about how that segue came to be, and much more. Also includes 15 other songs on video, what a collection!

On the CD front, we have 4 titles available here, 'Are Here and More', 'Unstoppable', 'Party Live in '85' and 'Because of You'. Our Itunes catalog is growing as well, all of the above are there as well as the really cool 'Anthology One', which contains super rare early tracks. You can also find 'This Christmas', our Yuletide single. And if you must have it, 'Amazon Beach', although it is really not that great an effort, in fact it kind of killed our major label career!

This is a band run enterprise, have fun with The Kings!

HOME - INTRODUCTION - BIOGRAPHY - ANTHOLOGY - DISCOGRAPHY - VIDEOS - PHOTOS - GUESTBOOK STORE - LYRICS - CHORDS - LIVE SHOWS - BOOK US - EMAIL