Terry Knight R.I.P.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Fri Nov 05, 2004 1:27 pm

Terry Knight was murdered in Killeen Texas two days ago. He was 61, the former manager of Grand Funk Railroad. He also had a group from Michigan, Terry Knight and the Pack, which had some regional hits. Here's a link to the story in the Flint Journal: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/fljo ... 305470.xml

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 2:56 pm

Wow! I think he split from the band on bad terms. Don't get me wrong -- I don't think GFR did it! Too bad.

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 4:09 pm

Yes,I believe the band fired him. It is mentioned in the article if it is still available at that site.

marc61 · Post by **marc61** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 2:48 pm

Mark Farner told the story that when they were renegotiating their recording contract, they asked Terry to leave the room. One of the band members inadvertantly opened up a drawer with a contract that Terry had with the record company that differed with the one they thought they were getting.

The band immediately moved to fire Terry. When they informed him, he immediately let them know that he owned the name of the band as well as all of their equipment. Can't blame the band for being bitter. However, if memory serves me correctly, the band's first live show was at the Atlanta Pop Festival in front of 600,000.I think they also had a huge billboard in Times Square to promote their first album which was probably unheard of for a new group at the time. Not to say Terry was a great guy or anything but, his connections were obviously pivitol to the band's success.

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:38 pm

Actually the murder happened in Temple, TX. He was murdered by the 26-year-old boyfriend of his 16-year-old daughter. The man is now charged with first degree murder.

Here's the sad story, including some details about his life in recent years:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-25/110053566534450.xml

mgauction · Post by **mgauction** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:47 pm

Dave - That was a really startling story that was, at the very least, well written. Extremely dramatic. If you are reading this go click onto the hyperlink on Dave's post!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:01 pm

They have said that he left them almost pennyless, they had most of their hits while with him and he had most if not all the rights, be careful what you sign. Just because he got them a gig at that Atlanta festival which lauched their career, that didn't give him a right to steal from them.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:53 pm

one of my goals in life was to never get signed to a record contract ... a lot of those old record contracts made wage slaves of the musicians ... while managers and producers got rich ...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:55 pm

That wasn't actually one of my goals but I was real good at it.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:56 pm

That wasn't one of my goals, but I was real good at it.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:58 pm

Imagine that, a double post and it corrected my English too.