American journalist
Ken Kelley (September 24, 1949 – January 13, 2008) was an American journalist and publisher, active in the underground press movement. He founded and edited the underground magazines the Ann Arbor Argus and SunDance, and was a notable interviewer for Playboy magazine.
Early life
Ken Kelley was born on September 24, 1949, in Ann Arbor and grew up in Monroe, MI.[1]
He attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor on a full scholarship,[1] studying chemistry but dropping out after three semesters.[2] While at University of Michigan, he worked on the student newspaper, the Michigan Daily,[3] lived at the Trans-Love Energies commune off campus, and was involved in the White Panther Party.[4]
Career
In 1969, Kelley founded the Ann Arbor Argus, which ran until 1971 and reached a circulation of 14,000.[5]
In the early 1970s, Kelley moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and, along with Craig Pyes, founded SunDance, an underground magazine funded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.[4]
Kelley joined the staff of the Berkeley Barb in February 1973 and became managing editor that summer.[2] Alongside fellow Berkeley Barb columnists Dancing Bear and Gabrielle Schang, Kelley was a correspondent on Earthquake News, a 1973 alternative television news pilot in San Francisco.[6]
Starting in 1976, Kelley became a regular writer for Playboy, best known for his interviews of notable figures.[4] His most well-known interview was of Anita Bryant in the May 1978 issue, in which she revealed her homophobic and anti-Semitic views.[7] Kelley had traveled with Bryant and her husband for a week and protected her from a pieing incident while conducting the interview.[4][8] The Kelley–Bryant interview is portrayed in the comedic play, Anita Bryant's Playboy Interview, which premiered in 2016 in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.[9] Kelley also interviewed Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, Cheech & Chong, Abbie Hoffman, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury, among others, for Playboy.[10]
Kelley won a Maggie Award for his 1987 interview of Lyndon LaRouche for Focus Magazine.[11]
Personal life
In 1971, Kelley was issued a subpoena from a federal grand jury probing the 1971 United States Capitol bombing, and subsequently burned the subpoena during a press conference with Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman.[12]
Kelley became interested in the Divine Light Mission in 1973 and wrote about it extensively.[13][14] He started writing a book about the Divine Light Mission entitled Brave New Bliss, but left it unfinished at the time of his death.[15]
Kelley was a press aide to Huey P. Newton. After Newton's death, Kelley wrote that Newton had admitted to ordering the murder of Betty Van Patter.[16]
Later life and death
In 2005, Kelley was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography.[11] While awaiting the outcome of an appeal, he had a heart attack in jail and died on January 13, 2008. In April 2008, federal prosecutors asked to drop charges against Kelley.[4]
