Jeffrey Kruger
| Jeffrey Kruger | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jeffrey Sonny Krugerkoff 19 April 1931 London, England |
| Died | 14 May 2014 (aged 83) Miami, Florida, United States |
| Occupation | Club owner, music publisher, record company owner, music business executive |
| Known for | Owner of Flamingo Club and Ember Records |
Jeffrey Sonny Kruger MBE (né Krugerkoff, 19 April 1931 –14 May 2014) 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 (The Kruger Organisation).
Kruger was born in the East End of London; his father changed the family name from Krugerkoff during the Second World War. 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. With his father, Sam Kruger, he founded the Flamingo Club in Soho in 1952, initially in Coventry Street; it moved to Wardour Street in 1957.
He established contacts in the US, 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.
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