Cleveland rocker Tom King is dead at 68

By

• Dave Davis, The Plain Dealer

View full sizeKing familyTom King, far left, with the Outsiders in a photo taken for their hit song "Time Won't Let Me." To the right of King are: Mert Madsen, Sonny Geraci, Denny Benson, and Bill Bruno.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tom King, a homegrown Cleveland rocker who co-wrote the hit song "Time Won't Let Me," died Saturday in a Wickliffe nursing home.

King, 68, had suffered from multiple health problems. He had been at the Wickliffe Country Place nursing home since he fell and injured himself in August. King's death was announced by Kevin King, one of his sons, and confirmed by the nursing home.

"He had been sick for a long time," Kevin King said Sunday.

Previous Plain Dealer coverage

• Tom King talks to Plain Dealer's Jane Scott

Other links

• Tom King on Facebook
• The Outsiders: Wikipedia

King and his brother-in-law, Chet Kelley, co-wrote "Time Won't Let Me," which was released in 1966 by his group the Outsiders. It rose up the national charts and sold more than a million copies. King was a guitarist, composer and arranger.

King attended Shaw High School in East Cleveland in the late 1950s. It was there, at age 15, that he formed the Starfires, also know as Tom King & the Starfires.

King formed The Outsiders, a continuation of the Starfires, in 1965. Joining him were Sonny Geraci, Mert Madsen, Richard Kriss, Al Austin, and Ronnie

Harkai

. They all performed on the original hit recording "Time Won't Let Me."

Success followed King through the late 1960s, but didn't last. Kevin King said his father last recorded in the late 1990s.

"He had helped the careers of many local musicians, such as the James Gang's Jimmy Fox and The Secret," said Kevin King.

King said that his father's blend of horns from Motown, his British rock style, and his infusion of strings made his music distinct. "He influenced bands like Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears," he said.

John Gorman, who helped build WMMS-FM/100.7 into a rock-radio powerhouse during the 1970s and '80s, grew up listening to The Outsiders on the radio in his hometown of Boston.

"When I first heard Chicago -- when they were known as the Chicago Transit Authority as well as some of the other horn-heavy bands that followed like Lighthouse and Chase -- it was apparent that the Outsiders influenced their style," said Gorman, now a media-and-radio consultant in Northeast Ohio.

"The Outsiders were very popular in my hometown Boston because of . . . Capitol promo rep Al Coury, who took a liking to their sound. Some of their nationally mid-chart songs like "Girl In Love" were top five hits in Boston.

"Both Eric Burdon & the Animals and the Outsiders recorded and released 'Help Me Girl' at the same time," recalled Gorman. "Though it wasn't a top ten hit for either band, nationally the Animals version fared the best."

However, in Boston, it was the Outsiders' version that garnered the most airplay and had the greatest chart success on local radio there, Gorman said. "It's regrettable that Tom King and Sonny Geraci never worked together again."

Funeral arrangements are pending. You can visit Tom King's Facebook page by clicking here.