Kim Fowley

Famed musician, writer and producer Kim Fowley, who epitomized the Hollywood music business in the 1960s and 1970s, died on January 15 after a long battle with bladder cancer. He was 75.

He was best known as Svengali, producer and promoter of the all girl 70s rock band the Runaways, which launched the careers of future starlets Joan Jett, Cherie Currie and Lita Ford.

Though Fowley never registered any major hits in his own name – his 1969 Imperial album “Outrageous” barely grazed the charts at No. 198 – he had a hand in several ’60s and ’70s chart records. Consistently ahead of the curve as a talent scout, he was involved with artists like Warren Zevon and Cat Stevens early in their careers.

Blessed with a genius for self-promotion, with a sharp tongue and gift of gab that magnetized writers, Fowley styled himself, in English writer Barney Hoskyns’ words, as “the ultimate Hollywood pop hustler.”

Born in L.A., Fowley was the son of Douglas Fowley, a familiar second-tier leading man and heavy in film and TV. He attended West L.A.’s University High, where his classmates included surf duo Jan & Dean and future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston.

Fowley was prominently featured in the 2003 documentary “Mayor of the Sunset Strip,” about L.A. DJ and onetime club owner Rodney Bingenheimer, a close friend. In Floria Sigismondi’s 2010 biopic “The Runaways,” Fowley was portrayed by Michael Shannon.