Kinky Friedman

He was very close to his parents while they were alive. He has never been married though he had been involved with several women.

He is a big animal lover and shares his home with several pets including cats, dogs, and an armadillo. He founded the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch which cares for and helps to find homes for abandoned, abused and aging animals.

He was born to Jewish parents, Dr. S. Thomas Friedman and his wife Minnie Samet. He was brought up in a ranch in central Texas.

He was equally talented in both music and chess as a child. He was chosen as one of the 50 local players to challenge the U.S. grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky when he was just seven.

He attended Austin High School and graduated in 1962. He majored in psychology and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas in 1966. He was a member of the Tau Delta Phi fraternity.

While at the university he formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots which made fun of surf music. The band released one single ‘Schwinn 24’ which was a local hit.

He served in the United States Peace Corps for two years teaching in Borneo in Indonesia. During this time he met Dylan Ferrero who would become a lifelong friend and professional associate.

He formed the band Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys in 1971. The name of his band was a play on the name of the famous band Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Friedman had a quirky sense of humour and assigned funny names to most of his band members: Little Jewford, Big Nig, Rainbow Colours and Snakebite Jacobs.

During the 1970s, country rock music was getting popular in America. Along with other musicians of the genre like Gram Parsons, The Band, and The Eagles, Friedman achieved cult fame as a country and western singer.

He signed a contract with Vanguard Music and released his first album ‘Sold America’ in 1973 which was followed by his self-titled album ‘Kinky Friedman’ in 1974. Over the next two years he toured extensively with Bob Dylan.

His songs were a reflection of his ironic sense of humour and sense of social responsibility. His songs were satirical in nature and expressed important social messages in a lighthearted manner.

As a musician he is famous for creating Jewish themed songs like ‘Ride 'Em Jewboy’ and ‘They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore’ in which he exposed the problems and issues that minority communities in America face on a day to day basis. He is also an author of mystery novels and has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.