Greg Kihn, a rock and roll musician best known for his 80s’ hit songs Jeopardy and The Breakup Song, has died aged 75.
Kihn died of Alzheimer’s disease on Tuesday, his management team said in a statement posted on Kihn’s website.
Born July 10, 1949, in Baltimore, Kihn moved to the San Francisco area in the 1970s and was signed to Beserkley Records.
With a songwriting style that blended folk, classic rock, blues and pop, his Greg Kihn Band had their first hit with The Breakup Song, released in 1981.
In 1983, Jeopardy rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart behind Michael Jackson’s Beat It. The song was also seen and heard regularly in the early years of MTV.
If you are an early MTV'er, certain artists live in our hearts from those days. @gregkihn is one. Greg passed away on Tuesday at 75, after a battle with Alzheimer's. My condolences go out to his loved ones, and thank you Greg for the Rock KIHN Roll https://t.co/yOvf0bi5lB
— Martha Quinn Ⓥ (@MarthaQuinn) August 15, 2024
Kihn’s albums often carried entertaining titles that played off his name, from RocKihnRoll and Kihntinued to Kihntagious and Citizen Kihn.
Martha Quinn, an original MTV VJ, paid tribute to him on Thursday on social media, saying: “My condolences go out to his loved ones, and thank you Greg for the Rock KIHN Roll.”
“Weird Al” Yankovic did a parody of Jeopardy in the 80s called I Lost On Jeopardy. Kihn said that he loved it and that it gave his song more of an afterlife than it might otherwise have had, Variety reported.
“It was a brilliant parody,” Kihn said. “He invited me to appear in his video, and I had a ball.”
Kihn was also a longtime DJ starting in the mid-1990s for KUFX radio in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a nationally syndicated night-time radio host.
He also wrote novels and short stories.
On his birthday in July, Kihn posted on his Facebook page, addressing his fans as “Kihnfolk”, thanking them for the birthday wishes and apologising for not posting an update for nearly a year.
“After so many years of touring as well as doing radio shows … it’s finally time I get to chill out,” he said.
“Thank you to each and every one of you for all your love and support now and over the years. Rock on!”
