KAY’S Commitment
John Kay has always been a man on a mission. From the time he and his mother made their daring escape from East Germany, the country where he was born, to his determination to play a part in the burgeoning folk/rock revolution of the early ’60s, and then on to his original role in the Canadian band Sparrow and later, the ever-influential band Steppenwolf, Kay has shown a determination and purpose that’s enabled him to evolve as a true rock survivor. No small feat in this era of wavering loyalties and fleeting fame.
While Steppenwolf has always been a steady fixture in Kay’s career—ever since the band’s founding in 1967—he also found musical renewal in a continuing series of solo projects that had him rebranding himself as an erstwhile singer-songwriter of a more rootsy persuasion. Granted, the ‘Wolf’s early hits—“Born To Be Wild,” “Magic Carpet Ride,” “The Pusher” et. al.— still loom large, but Kay’s determination to move forward and pursue his own muse has
