Greg Kihn, “Jeopardy” singer and Bay Area rock fixture, dies at 75

Greg Kihn, the singer-songwriter who had a No. 2 hit with the rollicking “Jeopardy,” has died. He was 75.

Kihn died Tuesday from Alzheimer’s disease, according to a statement posted Thursday to Kihn’s website.

Kihn, a fixture of the Bay Area rock scene in the 1980s, was best known for the Greg Kihn Band’s upbeat 1983 hit “Jeopardy,” which was only eclipsed only Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” on the Billboard singles’ chart.

An early MTV staple, the song and video later earned a loving parody treatment from Weird Al Yankovic as “I Lost on Jeopardy.” (Kihn granted Yankovic permission to cover it, and made a cameo in the video.)

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Kihn was born in Baltimore and moved to the Bay Area in the 1970s. He developed a sound mixing folk, classic rock, blues and hooky pop, and signed to local independent label Beserkley Records to release his first album in 1976. Kihn had his first Hot 100 hit with “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em),” which went to No. 15 in May 1981. He released scores of amusingly self-titled albums (“Next of Kihn,” “Citizen Kihn”), up through 2017’s “Rekihndled.”

Kihn was also a fixture of drive time radio in the Bay Area, serving as morning host on the San Jose-based station KUFX-FM (KFOX) for 17 years, retiring there in 2018. A horror buff, he also published several genre novels and edited a short story collection with original work by fellow rockers Ray Davies, Pete Townshend and Joan Jett. He was also passionate about his niche insect hobby, raising rare praying mantises.

Kihn is survived by his wife, Jay; children Ryan and Alexis; son-in-law Samora; grandsons Nate and Zuri; sister Laura; brother-in-law Lou; and nephews Larry, Lou and Matthew.