Larry King (musician)

Early life and education

Larry King was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He was involved in the entertainment industry from a young age, and began working as a child actor in television and radio commercials by age seven. Before the age of 13 he had been featured in 52 commercials, and began singing and writing music at age 12. As a teen he would sing jingles for television and radio by day and at night he'd work with local bands alongside his brother, who was a drummer. He was also active in musical theater, including a stint as Bobby Kennedy in One Shining Moment at Chicago's Drury Lane Theater.

After high school King attended the University of Miami and later the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While attending school he began focusing more on music, and wrote over 100 jingles for local and national advertising campaigns.

Music career

Upon graduating in the late 1980s King moved to Los Angeles, where he formed the band "Human Factor". The group was signed to Caliber Records, an independent record label associated with Warner Brothers Distribution. King wrote music, played keys and performed vocals for the band, which he has described as having a glam rock style with epic pop ballads.

In the early 1990s the Human Factor disbanded and King moved back to Chicago and secured a role as a staff writer and musician for River North Records. He became a session singer and wrote the rock opera Sins of the Father, staged by the Winston-Salem Repertory Company in North Carolina.

Larry King Orchestra

In 1997 King conceptualized and formed The Larry King Orchestra, a society band in Chicago. The original incarnation featured King on vocals and eleven musicians. The band, now a 22-piece, has developed a reputation as a high-end private event entertainment power house. LKO has been featured in CS Brides multiple times and many other trade publications. On New Years 2010 the band performed at the wedding of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and Samantha Sarcinella in Chicago and was featured in People Magazine and on the Style Network.

MFO Entertainment Group

In 1998, Larry created MFO Entertainment Group, under which Soleil Moon achieved great success competing with artists such as Celine Dion, Michael Bolton and Toni Braxton on the Adult Contemporary radio charts. The band featured prominently in the Top 40 with their last 3 releases and two of their songs, Willingly and Never Say Goodbye, were featured on the Adult Contemporary Top 2000 Tracks.

MFO Entertainment Group provides the world with a multitude of top notch entertainment options. From Weddings, Corporate Parties, Classical String Ensembles, Electronic Dance Parties, Jazz Ensembles and Opera with the Larry King Orchestra, Ron Bedal Orchestra, and Chris Forte Band. MFO also books headliners as well as manages and provides backline for private functions around the world.

Soleil Moon

In 1994 King met and befriended jazz musician John Blasucci. They quickly began making music together, eventually forming the band Soleil Moon. On March 2, 1999 they released their first single "World's Apart" under MFO Entertainment, with King providing vocals. They supported the release with a ten-city promotional tour, and "World's Apart" became a Top 40 Adult Contemporary hit.

After the single's success King and Blasucci began writing a full-length album. Among the studio musicians enlisted to participate in the project were the London Symphony Orchestra, session guitarist Michael Thompson, Paul Jackson, Jr., saxophonist Warren Hill, percussionist Lenny Castro, drummer Kenny Aronoff of John Cougar Mellencamp, and Todd Sucherman of Styx. Many others were also participants in the Larry King Orchestra. Worlds Apart was released on March 7, 2000 under King's label MFO Records. Various tracks from the album including "Willingly" and "Never Say Goodbye" charted on the Adult Contemporary Top 100, peaking at #17 and #22 respectively.

On February 1, 2011, Soleil Moon released the studio album On The Way To Everything through MFO Entertainment Group. The songs were recorded periodically since 2001, whenever King and other members found time between other projects. A review stated the album blended "bittersweet, melodic ballads, burning hard-rock riffs, percolating R&B grooves, and anything else that happens to suit their fancy, Soleil Moon has made an album about life's journey, and the conceptual arc is so striking that there's already been an offer to turn it into a musical." In 2012 "On The Way To Everything" was re-released through Frontiers Records, an Italian record label founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples, Italy. The Frontiers' release of "On The Way To Everything" has all of the original songs plus a few favorites from the "World's Apart" record.

Michael Thompson Band – Future Past

Released 2012: Frontiers Records

Discography