The Legendary Kim Fowley Passed Away…

After a long battle with bladder cancer, legendary record producer Kim Fowley has died, Ralph Peer of Peer Music confirmed via author and LA scenester Harvey Kubernik.  Throughout his career, Fowley stepped in and out of popular music’s limelight, making a name for himself in the 1960s with a string of pop singles with a cultish lean and later managing the ’70s punk girl group the Runaways — the band that introduced Joan Jett to the rock world.

He made a name for himself in the early 1960s as a co-producer/co-publisher on a string of successful records, such as the top-charting novelty song “Alley Oop” and Paul Revere and the Raiders’ instrumental “Like, Long Hair.” He went on to work with acts including The Murmaids, Gene Vincent, KISS, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell and Kris Kristofferson.

In 1975, Fowley helped form the Runaways, with whom he worked until 1977 when the group severed ties, due in large part to his unorthodox work methods, mistreatment and verbal assaults.

In an interesting turn of events, former Runaways frontwoman Cherie Currie cared for Fowley during his fight with cancer this past year. Their reconciliation came in 2008 with word of his condition, following years of legal battles over royalties and harsh verbal trades in the press, and the two were even working on a new album together. Last August, as Billboard reported, and moved her former manager into her Los Angeles-area home.

“I love Kim. I really do,” Currie said then. “After everything I went through as a kid with him, I ended up becoming a mom and realized it was difficult for a man in his 30s to deal with five teenage girls. He’s a friend I admire who needed help, and I could be there for him.”

Even from his hospital room, Fowley continued to work and collaborated with Ariel Pink for his recent Pom Pom album.

Source: Billboard