Who is Kinky Friedman? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Richard Samet Friedman

Age: 80 Years, 80 Year Old Males

Family:

father: Thomas Friedman

mother: Minnie Samet Friedman

Humanitarian Jewish Singers

Height: 5'3" (160 cm), 5'3" Males

political ideology: Democratic

City: Chicago, Illinois

Ideology: Democrats

U.S. State: Illinois

More Facts

education: University of Texas at Austin

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Childhood & Early Life

He was born to Jewish parents, Dr. S. Thomas Friedman and his wife Minnie Samet. He was brought up in a ranch in central Texas.

He was equally talented in both music and chess as a child. He was chosen as one of the 50 local players to challenge the U.S. grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky when he was just seven.

He 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.

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Career

He served in the United States Peace Corps for two years teaching in Borneo in Indonesia. During this time he met Dylan Ferrero who would become a lifelong friend and professional associate.

He formed the band Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys in 1971. The name of his band was a play on the name of the famous band Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Friedman had a quirky sense of humour and assigned funny names to most of his band members: Little Jewford, Big Nig, Rainbow Colours and Snakebite Jacobs.

During the 1970s, country rock music was getting popular in America. Along with other musicians of the genre like Gram Parsons, The Band, and The Eagles, Friedman achieved cult fame as a country and western singer.

He signed a contract with Vanguard Music and released his first album ‘Sold America’ in 1973 which was followed by his self-titled album ‘Kinky Friedman’ in 1974. Over the next two years he toured extensively with Bob Dylan.

His songs were a reflection of his ironic sense of humour and sense of social responsibility. His songs were satirical in nature and expressed important social messages in a lighthearted manner.

His song ‘Ride ‘Em Jewboy’ was a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust while ‘They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore’ is a song about the rampant racism that minority communities like the blacks, Jews and the Greeks face in America.

In 1973, he performed the song ‘Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your buns in the Bed’ which ridicules feminism in a concert in Buffalo. A group of enraged feminists began to fight with Friedman and the band had to be escorted to safety off stage. He was awarded the "Male Chauvinist Pig Award" by the National Organization for Women later on.

By the 1980s his music career was almost over. But the highly ingenious Friedman soon discovered another means to express his creativity. He started writing detective novels in which the hero was a fictionalized version of himself who fought evil in New York City.

He had foiled a mugging attempt in his village and the local press had hailed him as a crime fighter. This incident spurred him to write mystery novels with himself as the hero. His debut novel ‘Greenwich Killing Time’ was rejected by several publishers before it was finally published in 1986.

The novel was a surprise hit and soon garnered a cult following among crime readers. Friedman went on to write 16 more novels in the series which include ‘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.

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Major Works

As a musician he is famous for creating Jewish themed songs like ‘Ride 'Em Jewboy’ and ‘They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore’ in which he exposed the problems and issues that minority communities in America face on a day to day basis. He is also an author of mystery novels and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

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Personal Life & Legacy

He was very close to his parents while they were alive. He has never been married though he had been involved with several women.

He is a big animal lover and shares his home with several pets including cats, dogs, and an armadillo. He founded the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch which cares for and helps to find homes for abandoned, abused and aging animals.

Trivia

This male country singer appeared in a nude, cigar-smoking triplicate on the cover of the Dallas Observer magazine in 2003.

Kinky Friedman Biography