Jeffrey Sonny Kruger was a British entertainment business executive who owned the Flamingo Club in London, established the independent record label Ember Records, and set up the music business conglomerate TKO.
Background
He was born in the East End of London. His father changed the family name from Krugerkoff to Kruger during the Second World War. With his father, Sam Kruger, he founded the Flamingo Club in Soho in 1952, initially in Coventry Street.
lieutenant moved to Wardour Street in 1957.
Career
He started work as a salesman with Columbia Pictures. He aspired to be a jazz pianist and performed in nightclubs, before forming his own band, Sonny Kruger and the Music Makers. He established contacts in the United States, and persuaded jazz drummer Tony Crombie to form one of the earliest British rock and roll bands, Tony Crombie and the Rockets.
Kruger acted as Crombie"s manager and record producer, and co-produced the movie Rock You Sinners.
The Flamingo Club became established as a venue for leading American and British jazz performers, and in the early 1960s jazz-influenced rhythm and blues bands such as Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames performed there regularly. The club became a centre of the mod subculture, and by the mid-1960s a regular venue for emerging rock bands.
Kruger also set up other clubs such as the Florida. By the late 1950s Kruger had established his own music publishing, talent and management agencies.
In 1960 he founded the independent Ember record label which, as well as recording British acts, distributed many American and other recordings in the United Kingdom, including those of Glen Campbell.
Kruger also organised British and European tours by many successful American performers including Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye and Barry White. He expanded his operations in the United States, and established TKO in 1979. He later concentrated on promoting many dance and theatre productions.
He published an autobiography, Angels & Assholes: My Life With The Stars, in 1999.
He was awarded the Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2002, for his services to music He died in Miami, Florida in 2014 at the age of 83.
Jeffrey Kruger at IMDb.