Ivan Král (12 May 1948 – 2 February 2020) was a Czech-born American composer, filmmaker, guitarist, record producer, bassist, and singer-songwriter. He worked across genres including pop music, punk rock, garage rock, rock, jazz, soul, country and film scores. His music has been recorded by such artists as U2, Téléphone, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Simple Minds, and John Waite, among others, and he won three times at the Anděl Awards. He died of cancer in 2020, aged 71.

Biography

Early life

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Poland), Ivan Král moved to the United States in 1966 as a refugee with his parents, who were diplomats. His father Karel Král, a reporter at the United Nations, brought worldwide attention to the pending Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and publicly denounced the action, subsequently deciding not to return. Král had refugee status until 1981 when he obtained U.S. citizenship.

Early career and the Patti Smith Group

Kral's American music career began during the early 1970s glam rock scene in New York. His band, Luger, which also featured drummer Shayne Harris, performed at venues including Max's Kansas City, and opened for Kiss at the early shows at the Hotel Diplomat in 1973. After their breakup in 1973, he joined Shaun Cassidy's backing group, then Blondie, then Patti Smith, then Iggy Pop. Between 1975 and 1979, Kral was co-writer, guitarist, and bassist of the Patti Smith Group on her first four albums, including debut, Horses (1975), named one of the All-Time 100 Greatest Albums by Time magazine in 2006. The album is in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress, for recordings considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." His work also appears on other Smith albums, including Radio Ethiopia (1976), Easter (1978) and Wave (1979). Some of Kral's songs written during this period include "Ask the Angels", "Pissing in a River", "25th Floor", "Revenge", "Citizen Ship", "Birdland", "Ain't It Strange", "Pumping (My Heart)" and Smith's "Dancing Barefoot", which Rolling Stone included in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and has been recorded by artists including U2, Simple Minds and Pearl Jam.

Filmmaking work

Kral wanted a visual diary of his days in New York City in case he was ever deported back home to Czechoslovakia where rock music was forbidden, so he bought a Super 8 camera from a pawn shop. He began filming at Murray the K shows in 1967, with clips of the first show in America by The Who, Cream and Mitch Ryder then eventually got a 16mm film camera, on which he filmed other concerts including early Queen, David Bowie, Patti Smith. Some of the clips appear in his 1975 DIY compilation movie, Night Lunch. They are known as some of the earliest footage of the bands. Kral also filmed his bandmates and friends at rehearsals at the Hotel Chelsea, The Bottom Line, and CBGB. He compiled the footage into a 1976 film titled The Blank Generation, which features the Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, New York Dolls, Television, and drag queen Jayne County, before they had record deals. No Wave filmmaker Amos Poe helped Kral edit the film by adding music from each band's cassettes and cutting irrelevant scenes. The Blank Generation D-I-Y clip compilation is often referred to as the original visual document of the birth of No Wave. There are no effects, production, posing, scripts or budget, and it is the source film for many music documentaries. In 1978 Kral made the ambient soundtrack for Amos Poe's No Wave film The Foreigner.

After the Patti Smith Group

In 1979, after Patti Smith's last show in Florence, Italy, Iggy Pop invited Kral to Rockfield Studios in Wales to work on his album Soldier, produced by Pat Moran. After the Soldier tour, Kral became Iggy's co-writer and guitarist for all the original songs on his 1981 album, Party. Kral hoped to build a career as a film composer by heading to Los Angeles to compose music for the Barry Levinson film Diner (1982), but eventually returned to New York. He wrote and recorded the film scores for three films by underground filmmaker Amos Poe, titled, Unmade Beds, The Foreigner and Subway Riders in his apartment on his mini Moog synthesizer, piano and guitar. In the 1980s, Kral was involved in a number of short-term projects. He recorded and toured with John Waite, former singer with The Babys, and co-wrote songs for his album Ignition and Mask of Smiles. Kral wrote songs for many other artists, including Mick Ronson (formerly with David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars), and was involved in rehearsals with British guitarist Chris Spedding and Welsh avant-garde composer, recording artist John Cale, formerly of the Velvet Underground, to create a new band, but it never materialized. Kral subsequently formed his own band, Eastern Bloc, with a record deal and video with Passport Records, though the project ended when the label folded in the mid-1980s. Kral also ran a studio in New York from 1982 to 1993, named PAWS, where Mick Jagger, The B-52's, and reggae artists like Kiddus I rehearsed. Kral wrote the music for “Rest in Peace” for the memorial song of Czech President Vaclav Havel and Cindy Hudson wrote the lyrics in 2011. Kral wrote the music for “Wasn’t It Great” tribute song to CBGB owner Hilly Kristal and Cindy Hudson wrote the lyrics in 2007.

Return to Czech Republic

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the Velvet Revolution brought Communism to an end in Czechoslovakia. Král returned to Prague in 1993, and began working with other rock artists to develop the new Czech rock scene, using his experiences in the West to develop Czech talent and working as a songwriter, producer and musician. Patti Smith, while still living in Detroit, recorded her poem "Perfect Moon" at 54 Sound studio for Král's 1995 album Nostalgia. John Cale wrote and recorded the piano for the song. Král worked from his home studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His 2014 CD, Always, was recorded at Funky D Studios, Detroit; 2018 album, Colors, was recorded at Pearl Sound Studios in Michigan; his 2020 album Smile was recorded at the Bunnyhutch. In 2021 post-humous album, Undiscovered, was released. Warner Music Czech Republic also released a box set of three CDs, Ivan Kral – Later Years, in 2020. His previous ten albums were released on Universal Music Group and Polygram and were recorded in the Czech Republic or in Seattle. As a producer, Král worked with the Vipers and the Band of Outsiders, as well as Czech bands such as Lucie (on their studio album Černý kočky mokrý žáby) and David Koller, Ivan Hlas, Jiří Suchý, Aneta Langerová, Miroslav Žbirka, Alice, Debbi, Triny, and Garage. He also released many solo albums. He was a collector of the work of the avant-garde Czech photographer František Drtikol. The video for his song "Winner Takes All" was inspired by Drtikol's work with the female form. Král wrote music for the memorial of President Václav Havel, and performed it for live broadcast across the Czech Republic following Havel's funeral at the St. Vitus Cathedral. His wife, lyricist Cindy Hudson, wrote the lyrics.

Awards

Kral won a Czech Academy of Popular Music award for: 1994 – Best Producer for album Černý Kočky Mokrý Žáby by band Lucie 1995 – Best Producer for solo Ivan Kral CD Nostalgia 1998 – Best Producer for album Walk Choc Ice by band Walk Choc Ice Kral was nominated for the Czech Lion film score award in 2001 for the music in the film Cabriolet.

Filmography

As director

Appearances

Film music

Scores

Soundtracks

Source:

Discography

Solo

with Patti Smith

with Iggy Pop

with John Waite

with Téléphone

with John Cale

with Eastern Bloc

with Sky Cries Mary

with Noel Redding and Friends

with Triny Vocal Trio

with Lucie

with David Koller

with Miro Žbirka

with Lenka Filipová

with Janek Ledecký

with Jiří Suchý

with Alice

with Aneta Langerová

with Walk Choc Ice

with Mňága a Žďorp

with Garáž

with Pusa

Covers

Kral wrote the music for the Patti Smith song "Dancing Barefoot" and Smith wrote the lyrics. The song has been covered by U2 (two versions), Pearl Jam, First Aid Kit, Johnny Depp, Simple Minds, The Mission, Celibate Rifles, Xymox, Lea DeLaria, Alison Moorer, Todd Rundgren, Shakespears Sister, The Feelies, Johnette Napolitano, and appeared on various soundtracks. Kral also wrote the music for the David Bowie song "Bang Bang", and Iggy Pop wrote the lyrics.

Books