CREEM ONLINE: Terry Knight

Terry Knight
R.I.P.

Editor's Note: Like everyone else, we here at CREEM were sad to hear of the murder of Terry Knight. Through his career, he cut a swath through the rock 'n' roll scene. He had great success and made a few enemies along the way. Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer issued a statement that said, in part,"Even though we have not had a friendly relationship with Terry over the last 30 years it still was very distressing to hear of his death."

We turned to David Tedds to put it all into perspective for us. Tedds was the producer of the reissues of the classic Grand Funk catalog.

Love him or loathe him, most people I know who met him have described Terry Knight as a "character." And maybe that was Terry’s forte, adopting a character role for the various chapters in his life; Terry the overnight DJ at CKLW in the mid '60s, the lead singer/frontman of Terry Knight & The Pack, the pro race car driver, etc.

Terry Knight’s most famous role, and the one for which he’ll be remembered, is of the manager/svengali behind Grand Funk Railroad’s meteoric rise from bar band to stadium headliner. In the space of two years Knight and the members of Grand Funk became millionaires largely due to Terry’s ability to cast the band as spokesmen of the New Culture. Unfortunately, Knight’s life, as well as his finances, began to unravel in 1972 shortly after the group fired him citing financial mismanagement. Thought Knight came out the supposed victor, procuring a multi-million dollar settlement from the band, his life spiraled into a morass of drugs, lavish spending and failed business ventures.

Emerging from obscurity to grant a rare interview to VH1 for its 1999 Behind The Music feature on Grand Funk, Knight played his most well rehearsed role – the bad guy. "The media have always looked at Terry Knight as wearing the black hat. That doesn’t bother me as long as I can wear the black hat to the bank every week," he sneered. It was easy for long-time fans of the band to hate Terry, envisioning him staggering into Acme Savings & Loan, buckling under the weight of the bags marked "Grand Funk Royalties" slung across his shoulders.

In reality Terry was near broke. While he may have made millions from Grand Funk, he'd squandered it living the high life after his GFR breakup. He tried to orbit in the same universe with major movie stars and the like. While Knight had significant resources at the time he failed to generate future earnings after the Grand Funk split while his comrades kept raking in the mega-bucks starring in big budget films. He tried to live their lifestyle and failed. Coupled with bad investments he descended into bankruptcy.

I met Terry during the last several years while working as producer on the Grand Funk CD reissues. I had numerous phone conversations with him and got to know him fairly well. Several things became obvious to me during these conversations and chief among them was that his pride in Grand Funk extended well beyond the financial gain he received from them. He was proud of Mark, Don and Mel as musicians and spoke warmly of them as people. I truly believe that in the years following his breakup with them he realized he may have come out on top financially but he'd paid for it by losing three of his best friends and the one thing he was most proud of.

My impression of him in his last years is of a very lonely man, with few friends and nothing to occupy his time except raising his daughter on the limited resources he had. "Desperate," "isolated" and "sad" are three of the words I'd use to describe him best. If anyone thinks he was making a fortune annually from his GFR royalties I can only tell you that they're dead wrong.

Terry may have screwed GFR financially but I know for a fact that he was a good father and worshipped his daughter, Danielle. He’d relocated from Yuma, Arizona to Temple, Texas so that Danielle could be near her Mother. On November 1, 2004, Terry stepped out of character one last time to occupy his true role of loving father. Stepping in to defend Danielle as she fought with her boyfriend, Donald A. Fair, Terry was stabbed 11 times by Fair. By the time paramedics arrived he was dead.

Some people may continue to despise him (and I really can't blame them for that) but the inescapable truth is that without Terry Knight, Grand Funk Railroad would probably never have achieved any level of fame and success. As selfish as he sometimes seemed, he had no hesitation in paying the ultimate price, exchanging his life for that of his daughter's.