One of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll, Kim Fowley was, over the course of his decades-long career, a true jack-of-all-trades: singer, songwriter, producer, manager, disc jockey, promoter, and published poet. He was also the catalyst behind much of the pop music to emerge from the Los Angeles area during the 1960s and '70s, guiding several of his associates and protégés to fame and fortune, while remaining himself a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream.
The son of actor Douglas Fowley (who appeared in Singin' in the Rain), K...