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Column for November 16, 2004
Because of tragic circumstances, I am postponing the planned
salute to the Flint Vehicle City arches which I plan to present next month.
This month, I’m profiling an old railroad viaduct on Fenton Road in
Flint’s near south side. The viaduct isn’t much to look at, but
in the 1970s it became a makeshift shrine to the biggest musical act to come
out of Flint, Grand Funk Railroad. The painted sign on the viaduct originally
read GRAND TRUNK WESTERN R.R., but someone painted over the TR in "trunk"
and substituted the letter F in its place so GRAND TRUNK read GRAND FUNK.
As I type this, there is a wreath hung on the viaduct which I believe is
in memory of the first manager of Grand Funk Railroad, Terry Knight who was
stabbed to death on November 1 by his daughter’s boyfriend in the apartment
they shared in
Temple,
Texas. This is a sad and tragic end to a man who had led a colorful life.
Terry Knight was born Richard Terrance Knapp in Lapeer on April 9, 1943. He became a radio disc jockey as a teenager using the on-air name Terry Knight in the early 1960s. He would later legally change his surname from Knapp to Knight. After he became popular on Flint radio, he went to the Windsor/Detroit powerhouse radio station CKLW. His musical ambitions got the best of him and he quit radio to try his hand at performing. He got together with a Flint-based group called The Jazz Masters, whose members included Mark Farner and Don Brewer, and the group became Terry Knight & The Pack. This group would have a string of regional hits beginning in 1966 with a fine cover version of The Yardbirds’ hit "Better Man Than I." Their biggest hit was a cover of Ben E. King’s "I Who Have Nothing" which made it
to
#46 nationally. Terry Knight left The Pack to try his hand as a solo artist.
When that didn’t pan out, He reorganized The Pack into Grand Funk Railroad
in 1969 with lead guitarist Farner and drummer Brewer who were joined by
bass guitarist Mel Schacher who was with ? & The Mysterians of "96 Tears"
fame. Of course, the name Grand Funk Railroad was inspired by the Grand Trunk
Railroad (now absorbed into CN [
http://www.cn.ca ]) which
runs through Flint. Knight retired from performing to become Grand Funk’s
manager. Grand Funk would become one of the most successful rock groups of
the 1970s. But the band and Knight had a falling out and Knight was fired
by the group in 1972 sparking a legal battle in which Knight received a
multimillion dollar settlement. After unsuccessfully promoting other musical
acts, he quit the music business and maintained a low profile. He did invest
in a Grand Prix racing venture with actor Paul Newman which may explain the
with actor Paul Newman which may explain the
checkered flag on the wreath. But he squandered his fortune on an expensive
lifestyle, going into a nomadic existence and it was rumored that he was
in the witness protection program. A strange and sad life indeed which ended
in a Temple, Texas apartment. There are several links related to Terre of this area’s most cherished institutions: Grand Funk Railroad. What’s more, Terry Knight embodied, indeed shaped, the spirit, work ethic and a take-no-prisoners approach to making dreams reality and life an adventure that this area holds dear. For that, and more, he will be greatly missed.
Terry’s cremated remains are expected to be buried in the Knapp family plot at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lapeer by next summer. As I type this, there is a checkered wreath hanging from the Fenton Road viaduct in memory of Terry Knight.
There are several links related to Terry Knight and Grand Funk Railroad.
They include:
The official Grand Funk web site at
http://www.grandfunkrailroad.com
Former Grand Funk member Mark Farner’s own web site at
http://www.markfarner.com/index_new.html
This Swedish web site is the most detailed unofficial Grand Funk web site
I have seen:
http://grandfunkrock.com/gfr.htm
All of the above web sites have history sections which include the Terry
Knight & The Pack era.
A Terry Knight biography is at
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:d77zefbkhgf8~T1
There are many, many others you can find using your favorite Internet search
engine.
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