Jerry King (musician)

Jerry King (born 1956) is a Wisconsin-based composer and multi-instrumentalist primarily known as the founder, guitarist, and bassist for progressive rock band Cloud Over Jupiter.

King first formed the Central Wisconsin rock group called Zany Starblaster in 1977. The band played rock stages all about the U.S. Midwest through 1980 when the band tired of the road work and dissolved. Studio and live recordings of the group surfaced later and King released the best of the tracks in 2019.^[1]

For influences, King told It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine that he grew up listening to rock music, including funk rock and early progressive rock.^[2]

He traveled around the US for the next decade until he finally settled again in Wisconsin, where he formed several bands which performed regularly. In 2013 he built his studio^[3] and proceeded to work on all new original material that later was released under his band name, Cloud Over Jupiter.^{[4] [5]}

Cloud Over Jupiter ^[6] is King's main outlet for his compositions and he continues to release new albums regularly. His wife, Michele King, (vocals, piano and clarinet) has been a consistent band member. King was interviewed and featured in Issue #74 of Progression Magazine (Summer, 2018 issue)^[7]

Moon Men^[8] was formed in 2017 by Bret H. Hart and The Muffin's founder and multi-instrumentalist Dave Newhouse. Drummer Bill Jungwirth, and bassist/guitarist Jerry King were invited to join the group as rhythm section. Moon Men recorded five albums of all original music until the band folded in 2021.

Newhouse and King continued as a trio with Newhouse's son, George, on drums, calling themselves Moon X. Three albums have been released to date since 2022. In 2018 King collaborated with horror and fantasy writer, John Shirley, on one album of music. Since then they have collaborated on several other releases including the Cloud Over Jupiter album, Short Stories For Tall Aliens.

In December of 2022, King, along with Dave Newhouse, produced a compilation of new experimental music titled "ZZAJ: Jazz From the 23rd Century". The compilation included tracks by 34 different artists from around the world, including Martin Archer, Anthony Coleman, Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp, and others. The album was reviewed in the March 2023 issue of BBC Music Magazine.^{[9] [10]}

In 2024, the album "Atomic Jupiter" was released on the Melodic Revolution Records label, and included appearances by drummer Ric Parnell (RIP), Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Richie Castellano, guitarist Nick Didkovsky, The Muffins drummer Paul Sears, guitarist Pete Prown, and others.^[11]

In 2026, King started releasing his music under his own record label, Jupiter Works Music.^[12]