Brute Force

Stephen Friedland is a songwriter and performer under the title Brute Force. He grew up in Jersey City, NJ, and upon graduating from Cornell University in 1964, he began writing songs for such artists as The Chiffons, Little Peggy March, Del Shannon, The Cyrkle and others. He joined vocal pop group The Tokens as a guitarist and keyboard player, writing songs for them as well. In 1967, Friedland married singer Cynian Blair on the beach at Deal, NJ, and The Tokens and The Cyrkle played as entertainment. That year, he recorded for the first time as Brute Force with the album I, Brute Force, Confections of Love. In late 1968, Brute Force recorded his best-known song, The King of Fuh, which is the story of a mythical king who ruled the kingdom of Fuh. Singing the words "Fuh King" was the entire joke of the song, which a friend of Friedland, Tommy Dawes of the Cyrkle, forwarded to his manager, Nat Weiss, who knew the manager of The Beatles, Brian Epstein. The Cyrkle had played with The Beatles at some of their final shows in August 1966, including both Shea Stadium and their final show at Candlestick Park near San Francisco. According to Friedland, both John Lennon and George Harrison were very receptive to the song. George bought the song and had orchestral strings overdubbed, but EMI, distributor of Apple, the Beatles' label, refused to press or distribute it. Eventually, Apple privately issued the single for UK release, but the distribution plan never really caught on and the record quickly disappeared. Only 2000 copies were pressed as Apple #8 in May 1969, making it the rarest Apple single and a collector's item. Friedland left show business and became a paralegal for a short time. In the 1980's and 1990's, he performed as a stand-up comic and later again as a musician, sometimes with his daughter, Lilah, known as Daughter of Force.