Singer Kinky Friedman dead at 79: ‘Endured tremendous pain and unthinkable loss’

Singer-songwriter and satirist Kinky Friedman has died at age 79. He passed way at his family’s Texas ranch near San Antonio.

A statement posted to Friedman’s X account confirmed his death on Thursday.

“Kinky Friedman stepped on a rainbow at his beloved Echo Hill surrounded by family & friends. Kinkster endured tremendous pain & unthinkable loss in recent years but he never lost his fighting spirit and quick wit,” the statement read on the social media platform.

“Kinky will live on as his books are read and his songs are sung,” the message concluded.

Per the New York Times , Friedman’s close friend, writer Larry Sloman, said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.

His friend Kent Perkins confirmed that Friedman died at home in his sleep Thursday.

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“He leaves a legacy of laughter, music, loyalty, mercy, tolerance, servitude, and wisdom,” Perkins wrote on Facebook . “He was famous as a best-selling author, humorist, songwriter, and singer. But we, his close friends and family, knew him as a rescuer of unwanted dogs and cats, a compassionate, philanthropic, soft-spoken man who devoted much of his life to serving others less fortunate.”

Perkins added, “I learned a lot from Kinky. I never met a more honest, witty, selfless, generous, or sincere person than Richard Samet ‘Kinky’ Friedman.”

Friedman founded an animal rescue called Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in 1998.

“He died peacefully. He smoked a cigar, went to bed and never woke up,” Perkins added to The Associated Press . “He was the last free person on earth. He had an irreverence about him.”

Friedman, whose real name was Richard Friedman, grew up in Texas and formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots, when he was a student at the University of Texas.

He formed his second band, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, in 1973.

The same year, Friedman dropped his first solo album, “Sold American,” and became a successful country and western singer.

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He continued releasing music until 2018.

Some of his best-known songs included “Sold American,” “Honky Town Heroes,” “Ride ’em Jewboy,” “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “The Ballad of Charles Whitman.”

He toured with Bob Dylan from 1975 to 1976.

Friedman claimed that he was the first Jewish person to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

After his music career peaked, Friedman became a heavy cocaine user in the 1980s. “It was not the highlight of my life,” he told Rolling Stone in 2018 .

In 2006, he ran for governor of Texas on the independent ticket.

One of his campaign slogans was “My Governor Is a Jewish Cowboy.”

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He received 12% of the vote, losing to Rick Perry .

“Kinky Friedman was a larger than life Texas icon and will be remembered as one of the most interesting personalities in Texas politics,” Perry, 74, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune on Thursday. “Kinky’s run for governor in 2006 made an otherwise grueling campaign cycle actually fun. May he rest easy after a life lived to the fullest.”

In 2014, Friedman said that he had his “last will and testament worked out.” He quipped: “When I die, I’m going to be cremated and the ashes are to be thrown in Rick Perry’s hair .”

He looked back on the election in his 2018 interview with Rolling Stone.

“All of my f–king brains; it’s right there … If I had gotten a f–king talking-action figure to every single Texan, I would have won the election,” said Friedman. “We probably would have had a scandal-ridden administration. Let’s face it.”

In addition to being a famous musician, Friedman was also an author. He wrote detective novels — such as “Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola” and “God Bless John Wayne” — and was a columnist at Texas Monthly in the 2000s.

His writing career was spurred by the New York Post’s coverage of his encounter with a mugger, according to a friend.

Funeral services are pending, per Perkins.

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