Biography
Guitarist and songwriter Ivan Král maintained a five-decade career performing alongside rock figures such as Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, and John Cale. Originally from Prague, Czechoslovakia, he had planned a path in filmmaking until the Rolling Stones introduced him to rock & roll. During the mid- to late 1960s he started the Czech band Saze, yet exile followed after his father criticized the 1968 Russian Invasion of Czechoslovakia. The timing proved unfortunate, as a track he had previously cut with Saze reached the Top Ten in his homeland just after he reached his new base in New York City. Undeterred, he sought performing opportunities and briefly held a position at the Beatles’ fan club. In the early 1970s he played with the little-known glam outfit Luger, which shared the same scene that produced the New York Dolls and Kiss. After that band stalled, Král entered an early incarnation of Blondie, then operating under the name Angel and the Snake. He next encountered Patti Smith during one of her poetry readings; she needed a second guitarist, and a lengthy audition performance of “Gloria” secured his place in her group. Within the band he also handled bass, keyboards, and backing vocals. Although he appeared on her 1975 debut Horses, substantial songwriting contributions began with the follow-up Radio Ethiopia in 1976. Subsequent Smith releases included Easter in 1978 and Wave in 1979, the latter featuring the Král-Smith collaboration “Dancing Barefoot,” alongside a one-off live project with John Cale titled Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. When Smith suddenly withdrew to start a family with former MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, Král contacted Iggy Pop and joined his band as the decade closed. Their first effort together, 1980’s Soldier, underused his writing skills, yet 1981’s Party corrected that imbalance. The partnership ended quickly; Král next supported John Waite on the 1982 solo album Ignition. He later joined the pop ensemble Eastern Bloc, which released a single self-titled album in 1987, then moved to Seattle in the early 1990s to form Native. Czech television produced the documentary Dancing Barefoot around that period, later issued on DVD as Blank Generation/Dancin’ Barefoot. His debut solo record, Nostalgia, appeared in 1996 after he had returned to Czechoslovakia. Although Smith resumed her career, Král took no part in her later recordings or performances. In the early 2000s he produced and performed on the Triny Vocal Trio’s Gypsy Streams and on Noel Redding’s Live from Bunk R Prague. Ivan Král died on February 2, 2020, at the age of 71.
Albums
