Paul King was born in
Galway and moved to the United Kingdom with his parents at a young age, settling in
Coventry,
England. After graduating from Coventry Drama School, King joined the
West Midlands Police Cadets for two years before joining
rock-
ska band the Reluctant Stereotypes. King's line up of the band – which also contained
record producer Paul Sampson – released an album
The Label and three singles Confused Action, Plans For Today and Nightmares in the early 1980s on the back of
Coventry's vibrant
2 Tone ska scene. After the demise of the Reluctant Stereotypes, King formed the Raw Screens who perfected their act and style to what King and his manager Perry Haines called 'multi-tone', and then in 1983 relaunched the group as self-named 1980s band
King. As lead singer, King was famed for his
cockatoo haircut and spray painted
Doc Marten's Boots – a look described "like the
Child Catcher from
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But, hell, the girls loved him," while
Richard James Burgess produced and
drummed on most of the band's
songs. The band lasted just a couple of years, though both of their albums,
Steps in Time and
Bitter Sweet, went Gold, and they had two
Top 10 singles with "
Love & Pride" and "
Alone Without You". Paul King then went
solo with a 1987
album entitled
Joy, produced by
American musician
Dan Hartman. showed new singles and album releases and it was presented by VJ Paul King until 30 July 1994. In 1998, a joint King & Paul King 18-track collection, entitled
The Best of King – Love & Pride, was eventually released, with hit singles, stand-out tracks,
B-sides and
remixes. Paul King still works for MTV Networks Europe where he has produced shows for
VH1 and
MTV. ==Discography==