In Memoriam: Greg Kihn

Singer-songwriter Greg Kihn who was known for songs like “Jeopardy” died on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, due to complications from Alzheimer’s. He was 75 years old.

Kihn scored power pop hits in the 1980s as the frontman for the Greg Kihn Band. In 1981, “The Breakup Song” reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and “Jeopardy” made it to No. 2 in 1983.

He was born on July 10, 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland. Kihn won a local radio station’s talent contest when he was still in high school, then he moved to San Francisco to pursue his music career.

Kihn signed with Beserkley Records in ’73 and had a song on their compilation album, Beserkley Chartbusters Vol. 1. His first solo album, Greg Kihn, was released in ’76, followed by several albums that used puns in the titles. They included Next of Kihn in ’78, RocKihnRoll in ’81, Kihntinued in ’82, Kihnspiracy in ’83, and Kihntagious in ’84. His band continued releasing albums in the late ‘80s and into the ‘90s. The band released a handful more albums after 2000, most recently with the 2017 album Rekihndled.

Starting in the mid-1990s, Kihn spent 18 years as a radio host, eventually being inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. He was also an author of the horror novels Horror Show, Shade of Pale, Big Rock Beat, and Mojo Hand.