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Kinky Friedman Biography
Kinky Friedman, born Richard Samet Friedman is an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, defender of stray pets, and former Texas Monthly columnist who styles himself in the mold of famous American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain.
Kinky Friedman Age
Friedman was born on November 1, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is 78 years old. He is an American by Nationality and of white ethnicity.
Kinky Friedman Family
Friedman was born to his Jewish parents, Dr. S. Thomas Friedman (dad) and his wife Minnie (Samet) Friedman (mom). Both of his parents were the kids of Jewish Russian immigrants. His family relocated to a ranch in Kerrville, Texas in the Texas Hill Country when Friedman was young and opened a summer camp called Echo Hill.
Kinky Friedman Married
According to our records, Friedman is possibly single. We have no records of past relationships for Friedman. Friedman himself has never been married.
Kinky Friedman Education
Friedman attended Austin High School and graduated in 1962. He majored in psychology and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas in 1966. He was a member of the Tau Delta Phi fraternity. While at the university he formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots which made fun of surf music. The band released one single ‘Schwinn 24’ which was a local hit.
Kinky Friedman Career
He served two years of teaching at Borneo in Indonesia in the United States Peace Corps. He met Dylan Ferrero during this moment, who would become a lifelong friend and professional associate.
He created Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys in 1971. His band’s name was a play on the name of the renowned band Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Friedman had a quirky feeling of humor and assigned funny names to most of his band members: Little Jewford, Big Nig, Rainbow Colors and Snakebite Jacobs.
Country rock music became popular in America during the 1970s. Together with other genre artists like Gram Parsons, The Band, and The Eagles, Friedman attained cult notoriety as a country and western singer.
He signed a contract with Vanguard Music and published his first album’ Sold America’ in 1973, followed by his self-titled album ‘ Kinky Friedman’ in 1974. He toured widely with Bob Dylan over the next two years.
His songs reflected his ironic feeling of humor and feeling of social responsibility. His songs were of a satirical nature and conveyed significant social messages in a lighthearted way.
His song ‘ Ride’ Em Jewboy’ was a tribute to the Holocaust victims while’ They Ain’t Makin ‘ Jews Like Jesus Anymore’ is a song about the widespread racism that minority groups like blacks, Jews and Greeks face in America.
He conducted the song’ Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed’ in 1973, which ridicules feminism at a Buffalo rally. A group of angry feminists started fighting with Friedman and the band had to be escorted off stage to safety. He was later given the “Male Chauvinist Pig Award” by the National Women’s Organization.
His music career was almost over by the 1980s.
But the extremely ingenious Friedman quickly found another means of expressing his creativity. He began writing detective novels in which the protagonist was a fictionalized version of himself who fought evil in New York City.
He had foiled a mugging attempt in his village and he had been hailed as a crime fighter by the local media. This event prompted him to write mystery novels with himself as the hero. Several editors dismissed his debut novel’ Greenwich Killing Time’ before it was lastly released in 1986.
The novel was a surprise hit and quickly gained a cult following among the readers of the crime. Friedman went on to write 16 more novels in the sequence, including’ When The Cat’s Away’ (1988),’ Musical Chairs’ (1991),’ Blast From The Past’ (1998), and’ Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch ‘ (2002).
He aspired to be a politician and ran for the Governor of Texas in 2006. He began a colourful campaign with slogans like ‘My Governor is a Jewish Cowboy’ and ‘He ain’t Kinky, he’s my Governor’. However, he lost the elections.
Kinky Friedman Net Worth
Friedman is an American country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, and politician who has a net worth of $2 million.
Kinky Friedman Discography
Albums
2016 Resurrected
2015 The Loneliest Man I Ever Met
2013 Lost And Found: The Famous Living Room Tape, 1970
2007 Live from Austin, Texas
2006 The Last of the Jewish Cowboys: The Best Of
2005 Mayhem Aforethought
2005 They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore
2003 Classic Snatches from Europe
1998 Pearls In The Snow – The Songs Of Kinky Friedman
1995 From One Good American to Another
1992 Old Testaments & New Revelations
1983 Under the Double Ego
1982 Live from the Lone Star Cafe
1977 Silver Jubilee 1953-1977
1976 Lasso from El Paso
1974 Kinky Friedman
1973 Sold American