{"id":483237,"date":"2026-02-22T04:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T04:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/483237\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T04:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T04:55:09","slug":"on-this-day-in-1982-we-said-goodbye-to-the-self-proclaimed-fifth-beatle-who-formally-introduced-americans-to-the-fab-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/483237\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in 1982, We Said Goodbye to the Self-Proclaimed \u201cFifth Beatle\u201d Who Formally Introduced Americans to the Fab Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born Feb. 14, 1922, in New York City, show business flowed through Murray Kaufman\u2019s veins. His mother, Jean, was a vaudeville pianist who also wrote songs, while his aunt appeared onstage and in film as a character actress. Getting his start as a child extra on the 1930s film scene, Kaufman built an impressive career in radio. Eventually becoming known as \u201cMurray the K,\u201d he worked with everyone from Bobby Darin to the Beatles<\/a>. Today we\u2019re taking a look at the life and career of \u201cMurray the K,\u201d who died 44 years ago today (Feb. 21, 1982) just one week after his 60th birthday.<\/p>\n

He Always Lived to Entertain<\/p>\n

Attending Peekskill Military Academy as a child, Kaufman joined the U.S. Army in adulthood. There, he began organizing shows for his fellow troops. It was a prelude to a lifelong career, and after he concluded his military service, Kaufman got a job<\/a> putting together shows for the resort hotels in New York\u2019s Catskill Mountain Borscht Belt.<\/p>\n

Back home in Manhattan, Kaufman worked as a song plugger for songwriter Bob Merrill, helping promote Merrill\u2019s 1952 novelty song \u201c(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?\u201d He later became a radio producer and co-host at\u00a0WMCA while also doing promotion work for professional baseball players like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Murray the K\u2019s efforts earned him his own late-night talk show. In 1958, he moved to another New York radio station, WINS, to host an all-night show he called The Swingin\u2019 Soiree. That\u2019s where his career truly took off.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Directly and Indirectly: Here Are 3 Musicians That Credit Their Start to The Beatles]<\/a><\/p>\n

Why Did Murray the K Call Himself the Fifth Beatle?<\/p>\n

Many in the Beatles\u2019 orbit could lay claim to the title of \u201cthe fifth Beatle.\u201d While Murray the K\u2019s name is possibly the most obscure among them, he is largely responsible<\/a> for the Fab Four\u2019s surge in popularity in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Hearing about Murray through his work with bands like the Ronettes, the Beatles\u2019 manager, Brian Epstein, invited the DJ to their suite in the Plaza hotel. Murray talked his employer into allowing him to broadcast live from the Liverpool quartet\u2019s temporary home. Somehow from there, he ended up tagging along on the Beatles\u2019 American tour. Murray found himself witnessing history, attending their first American show, hanging out backstage during their Ed Sullivan debut, and broadcasting his radio shows live from the Miami hotel room he shared with George Harrison.<\/p>\n

Murray \u201cthe K\u201d Kaufman died of cancer on Feb. 21, 1982. He had celebrated his 60th birthday a week earlier.<\/p>\n

Featured image by PoPsie Randolph\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Born Feb. 14, 1922, in New York City, show business flowed through Murray Kaufman\u2019s veins. His mother, Jean,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,2617,88,222617,216,13979],"class_list":["post-483237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1980s","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-murray-the-k","tag-music","tag-the-beatles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}