SAN FRANCISCO — Greg Kihn, a rock ‘n’ roll musician best known for his 1980s hits “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song,” has died.
Kihn died Tuesday of Alzheimer’s disease, his management team said in a statement on Kihn’s website. He was 75.
Born on July 10, 1949, in Baltimore, he moved to the San Francisco area in the 1970s and was signed to Beserkley Records. With a songwriting style that blended folk, classic rock, blues and pop, his Greg Kihn Band had their first hit with “The Breakup Song,” released in 1981.
In 1983, the band’s song “Jeopardy” rose to number 2 on the Billboard HOT 100 chart, behind Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The song was also a regular on the early years of MTV.
Kihn’s albums often had amusing titles that played on his name — from “RocKihnRoll” to “Kihntinued” to “Kihntagious” and “Citizen Kihn.”
Martha Quinn, an original MTV VJ, posted a message about this in her social media tribute on Thursday. “My condolences to his loved ones, and thanks Greg for the Rock KIHN Roll,” Quinn wrote.
“Weird Al” Yankovic made a parody of the “Jeopardy” song in the ’80s called “I Lost on Jeopardy.” Kihn said he loved it and that it gave his song more of an afterlife than it might have had otherwise. Variety reported.
“It was a brilliant parody,” Kihn said. “He invited me to be in his video, and I enjoyed it.”
Kihn was also an accomplished DJ who started at KUFX Radio in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1990s and was a nationally syndicated evening radio host.
Kihn also wrote novels and short stories.
On his birthday in July, Kihn posted a message on his Facebook page addressing his fans as Kihnfolk, thanking them for the birthday wishes and apologizing for not posting an update for almost a year.
“After so many years of touring and doing radio shows…it’s finally time to relax,” the post read. “Thank you to each and every one of you for all your love and support now and over the years. Rock on!”