Király LindaHi everyone, I'm Linda Király, and we've come together on a very special occasion. This is actually my first ever podcast, and how should we start it, really? With my own father. So fittingly I've invited dear Tamás Király, who is going to tell us some incredible stories in a very, very deep voice.
Király TamásI greet everyone too, and now I'll try to go deeper...
Király LindaAnd let's also introduce my conversation partner, Attila.
Attila SowunmiYes, hi everyone, I'm Attila. I can't wait to ask my questions.
Király LindaSo, don't you want to get started?
Attila SowunmiWell, let him begin already.
Király LindaThen let's start with how the family's move from Hungary to America began, when, how?
Király TamásWell, back then it wasn't really a family yet, it was just me and my wife, Gabriella, and quite simply we went on our honeymoon. Which also turned out very interestingly at the time, because back then we actually had to escape. Not that things were bad for us, because things were good. We were stars, sorry, excuse me, that word has become fashionable recently, this star thing, that wasn't a fashion in Hungary. We just played music. So at that time I was playing in the band Color, which was quite popular. Even though I was actually just substituting for one of the vocalists, who had defected to America a year or two before me, so I was just a newcomer, because among two other brothers I was the third. Before that, though, I played music for about ten years with Kati Kovács and the Universal band, which was a very, very beautiful period in our lives. Anyway, that's just a side note, we didn't really want to... we weren't very sure we wanted to defect, but in the end the chance arose that yes. So we went on our honeymoon to New York, to my wife's father, who was a '56 defector, a certain Károly Szabó. And then this honeymoon turned out to be a bit long, because we ended up staying in America for about twenty years.
Király LindaYes, and of course we were born there, me and my siblings. They came one after another, like the electricity bill. That's it.
Király TamásYes, first Linda, then a boy was supposed to come, but then it turned into two. They're identical twins, Benjamin and Viktor. Benjamin is five minutes older.
Király LindaTen.
Király TamásTen. Sorry. Anyway, they're incredibly precise, there's one year, one month and one day between them, and between the boys it's ten minutes, so one.
Attila SowunmiHow interesting that is. Even the math exam.
Király LindaAlright, here it starts, he's sucking my blood. Okay, let him tell a bit more before I jump in.
And was Linda a good girl otherwise, a good kid?
Király TamásWell, that's hard for me to answer, because when... apparently she was very naughty, but I didn't know about those things. So I didn't know about the running away and the stealing cars and all that. But otherwise let's say... she was resourceful. That's another way to put it, really.
Király LindaAnd the boys?
Király TamásThe boys were different. They were very... Maybe because they were born a bit early, and they're the type that matures a bit more slowly, you can actually see that on them. Not mentally, but physically. So they had a bit of a harder time picking up the pace, but they too, how should I put it, they were also very naughty, and also very good.
Király LindaLively.
Király TamásLively, so we had no reason to complain.
Attila SowunmiWell, you were quite strict, whatever the case may be.
Király LindaI can't judge that myself, apparently. Very much so.
But I would love it if you started telling a bit about how life started for you, those stories, how it began, how from being a musician a business life started, what happened, how did it start? Tell it, because these stories are so good.
Király TamásSurely bedtime prayers.
Király LindaSurely. Surely, because I love these stories.
Király TamásWell, that made things harder for us, because suppose... Let's say I had come from some particular trade, say I'm a car mechanic, and I arrive in America, then naturally I'd try to continue as a car mechanic, and I would surely live much better than I did before in Hungary. In our case it was different, because to be a musician, there are plenty of good musicians in Hungary too, and plenty of good musicians in America too, that alone isn't necessarily the condition for someone to be successful, you also need a great deal of luck, being in the right place at the right time, so it depends on many other things too. It seems I was lucky, because in Hungary I could call myself successful. I couldn't have achieved that overnight in America, and as a result I had to start with something else in order for us to survive, because we left everything behind in Hungary. At that time we had already built quite a serious, how should I say, existence for ourselves in Hungary, we had a nice big apartment downtown, we had a car, we had everything. But we didn't take that with us, so we started from zero, and as a result, to shorten the story, I first started working as a waiter in Upstate New York, which was quite something because before that I had never carried a tray in my life. Anyway, so it was quite hard.
The gist of it was that I had to get up at five, half past five in the morning, and because I was at a hotel where I had to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner to whichever table was assigned to me, I had to get up early, but from half past five to six I practiced the names of various English appetizers and breakfasts and lunches with a bit of help, because I didn't speak English.
Király LindaSo there in the family they helped with the...
Király TamásHis second wife, and they helped me learn certain breakfast names, which I didn't know otherwise. And then my day would start, and afterward I worked as a waiter. There were of course plenty of stories where my colleagues played tricks on me. It was hard for me to grasp that from one day to the next I went from being someone to being a nobody, but I had to fight through it. And then, of course, many people came up there, to Upper East New York.
Király LindaFrom New York, well we could say mafia types, so families, so yes.
Király TamásStarting from the founder of the tabloid empire, there were a lot of serious names, and they played tricks on me quite a few times. I think Linda would love to hear the one when my colleagues told me, go out and bring Mr. Bolbaster his coffee. Now I had no idea what 'bolbaster' meant. So I stopped in front of the table and greeted Mr. Bolbaster, who started fumbling under the table, probably looking for his gun.
Attila SowunmiHow would you translate 'bolbaster' now?
Király TamásWell, yes, something like that, anyway, yes. So the point is, and meanwhile my luck was that my fellow waiters were standing in the kitchen doorway laughing about what would come of this, and he saw that. Anyway, I was full of stories like that at the beginning, it was hard.
So to finish the story, as soon as breakfast ended, I had to get ready for lunch, set the tables, clean up, and so on, then the same for dinner, then I would run home, change clothes, or it could be that I already had clothes with me, and then I'd sit down to play the drums.
Attila SowunmiSo he did everything.
Király TamásBecause that place had a bar, had entertainment, and I got hired for what I'd call the local Italian wedding band, or party band, and they really enjoyed that I immediately picked up the pace with them, and then I'd play there until about one, half past twelve, one o'clock, and then afterward I'd sleep for about two, three, four hours.
By the way, I have to say that it was always a huge inspiration for me to see that not only my father but also my mother was always able to get back up again and again. That they really built something, and were able to start over, and I don't know how many times I had to do the same, so really they inspired me toward this.
Király LindaBut will you also tell that story, the jewelry story?
Attila SowunmiThe jewelry story? The one with the little lamp?
Király TamásI don't know if I have that much time.
Király LindaThere is! We have no time limit.
Király TamásAfter all this I started to settle down fairly quickly, and then we went down to New York, because that place is up in the mountains, and it turned out I had a distant relative, and I met, once in my life, the only living relative on my father's side who was out in America, a certain Eva Green. I remember the story itself was very interesting: we went down to New York and I said to my wife, I said, Gabi, I have a relative here, but all I remember is that her name was Green. Nothing else.
We grabbed the phone book, opened it, there were about forty thousand Greens in it. Really. And believe it or not, the very first one I called picked up the phone and said, Tomi! Just like that. Really, that's how it happened. And within half an hour we met in Central Park, and it turned out they were already elderly people, no children, nobody else, fairly well off, and they took on the role of grandparents, the role of relatives.
Király LindaWe didn't have relatives.
Király TamásWe didn't, because unfortunately my life turned out such that a few months later my father died young in Hungary, and within a year my mother too. So sadly I never got to meet them again.
Király LindaThat's right.
Király TamásAnd my wife Gabi didn't really have much family either, since she was raised by her grandmother, she actually met her father out in America, her father who defected in '56 and left the child when she was three months old, so we weren't exactly spoiled when it came to family matters, so all of this came in very handy. The point is that this is where we met Eva and Zoli, who took over the role of grandparents and family.
Happens to be, Zoli was a jeweler who by that time had really outgrown that and become a real estate man instead, so he had a lot of houses and a big fortune in New York. We didn't know about this, and unfortunately we didn't really enjoy any of the benefits of it. But I kept it very, very nicely a secret.
Király LindaYes.
Király TamásBut the point is, he recommended me to a jewelry company, where I was a jack of all trades. This company was just renovating or building its workshop, a jewelry workshop, a smaller jewelry workshop on 46th street, at a certain Gold Schani's place, and there I was everything. I knew right away that I would never become a jeweler, because I'm not particularly, well, I'm not skillful, and I'm not patient either. Unfortunately I inherited that from him. But I have imagination and creativity, so I could function extremely well as a designer.
The point is that after a good few months I felt I already knew enough about the jewelry trade, so I left it and went to another, also Hungarian, company as a sales agent. Now, I still didn't really speak English, but I was excellent, I knew how to sell. So within a short time I became very successful as an agent.
Király LindaAnd what did you have to sell?
Király TamásJewelry. So jewelry. I started working with a collection, on behalf of this company, and somehow I think salesmanship is psychology, and somehow it worked out for me that I was successful, and bold. So after I made, or pulled off, my first successful transaction, they asked me where I wanted to go next week, and I said New Orleans.
Király LindaBut was that the first time, when you got that dusty package of really, really ugly jewelry? Or which one was that?
Király TamásNo, that was already later, after a few months had passed, and well, if you want to hear it, I'll tell it.
Király LindaYes, it's funny.
Király TamásYes, it's funny. I didn't feel that way at the time. Obviously whoever's in the middle of it doesn't feel that way. A few months passed, Christmas came. My uncle Zoli tells me, I'll help you, Tomi, I'll give you jewelry that your customers will really love. He reached up to the top of the closet, took down four boxes, in which there were various extremely tasteless pieces of jewelry, gold and diamonds, but really, really these true cocktail rings, so, just a horror.
And I had no idea what I was going to sell, but I started thinking, this is all Italian taste. So I called up old acquaintances of mine, whom I'd met back in New York, a certain Carlo. And I asked them whether they might be interested before Christmas, because they could get first-hand access to very good pieces, and they said, yes. Come to New Jersey on Sunday, we'll meet here and here, at ten o'clock.
I told my wife, I said, by the way my wife was already pregnant with Linda at that point. There was a belly and everything, so this was sometime in the fall, sometime before Christmas. Linda was born in February, so there was already a belly. And for safety's sake I armed myself, because after all, where I was going wasn't exactly a safe place, so I got a butter knife out of the drawer and stuck it in the back of my shoe, so that if there was trouble, at least I could make some toast.
Anyway, so we arrived there in New Jersey, and this was exactly like something taken straight out of The Godfather. There they stood in front of the bar, in front of this café, eight or ten of them on a Sunday morning, all Italians, speaking Italian too, and they saw us, they were very sweet, they invited us in and sat us down, my wife too, so that my wife was there too, but they insisted that I bring my wife, and then...
Király LindaBut they saw the belly, and they enjoyed that, they could offer coffee, all that.
Király TamásA few minutes passed, I was just watching to see what would happen, and then someone spoke up and said, well, let's look at the jewelry, and he took me into a back room, where there was this unplaned table and a lamp hanging over it.
Király LindaThat must really have been something.
Király TamásAnd then he said, let's look then. And I had no idea about prices, nothing. He looked at a ring. Well, that's very nice, very nice. How much? I said, five hundred dollars. He didn't say a word, then I'll take this. This, how much? I said, this is two thousand dollars. Okay, this one. And it went on like that. I was already dizzy, I thought, this isn't going to end well. Everything he touched, and whatever price I said, any price, he wanted it.
Alright. The transaction happened, I'd already made a selection, what he chose, and afterward we went back to have coffee. Meanwhile a short, stocky gentleman arrived at the table, and I noticed everyone kissed his hand, so I thought, this isn't going to end well. The tough-looking guy I'd gone into the back room with also kissed his hand, and he asked, what did you pick? And by then I understood who the tough-looking one was, and he said, well, take a look.
Alright, we went into the back room with the stocky man, and he said, that's all mine, those are all mine. I like that too, so actually it turned out he wanted it. The transaction happened for an amount that, at the time, I wouldn't even have dared to dream existed, except in arithmetic problems. Everything happened, I couldn't even believe it, and they paid too.
I took it to my uncle too, and when he asked at what price I'd sold it, and I told him, even he got scared then. He said, they'll come after us like that.
Then I did get a phone call, some week in January, the second week, at seven in the morning: Tamás, you're welcome to the holiday in. Oh my God, come to the little motel room. I said, fine. If there's a problem, that's okay. And then I got lucky, it turned out a stone or two had come loose, nothing else, everything went smoothly, there was no problem. But it was a terrible thing to go through at the time. And they hardly spoke English on top of it.
Anyway. So that's that.
Király LindaAnyway, there are very, very interesting stories here, but actually what I'm curious about is that basically around the halfway point of your life everything completely changed, you'd been a musician your whole life, music was your life, and then suddenly there came a point where you had to decide what you were going to do with yourself, because there was a family. And you actually achieved very great success in the other career too, but what does a person do in that situation? How can you process that, or where do you put it, when deep down someone is a musician, and even though there's this other side and you can be very, very successful, where does a person put that, how does it work?
Király TamásLife puts everything in its place. The truth is that my music career started up again then too, so I went into various recordings, Thomas Cary. I remember, Thomas Cary, that's what I was named or renamed in America, which was sold through Tao Record, which was a big deal at the time. The name of the band was Figure Life Out.
Király LindaIsn't that ironic, by the way?
Király TamásYes, that was the name. And I even remember the cover, I still have the record, on the cover a crying little kid is holding a dead fish in his hand that he took out of the tub.
Király LindaOh, nice.
Király TamásAnd the back of the record cover was a Miami street scene, among the skyscrapers, with retirees flying around in checkered pants over the skyscrapers. But this was one of those... I think we're the ones who really started the garage band thing at home, in a garage.
Király LindaBy the way, it started there.
Király TamásIt started there, yes. It really did start there. But anyway, I was actually lucky, because there would have been something to gain there, but by then I couldn't afford to rehearse or play until dawn and then open up a factory at seven in the morning, because I forgot to mention that in the meantime I had opened a factory.
Király LindaJust opened a factory.
Király TamásYes, well, calling it a factory sounds a bit pompous, it was more of a small workshop. I came up with something that I felt was right for America, my angle on it, the essence of which was that it should be flashy, showy, but we made jewelry out of gold tubing.
Now we didn't have money, but we had plenty of ideas, and we made a collection called Earring Jacket. The point of the Earring Jacket was that if a lady had, say, a diamond stud, a little diamond earring, she could change it every day: she had a different earring, in white, yellow, pink, or any other gold, because the jacket, the coat-like piece, went around it.
I explained that in a bit of a complicated way, but I think it's understandable.
Király LindaYes.
Király TamásAnd we made hundreds of different patterns out of this, and the trade liked it so much that even though I had no money or gold, they gave me gold to make it. And when I got gold, the designs came from us, but I couldn't make them myself, so I had to hire goldsmiths, jewelers, and the first small workshop was on 45th Street, on the 10th floor, some hundred-square-meter little space, or even less, where we worked with three goldsmiths and two polishers, and made things to order.
And we only charged for labor, since the gold wasn't ours. And this built up so nicely that... within a year, a year and a half, we were already working at a new location.
Király LindaIsn't it incredible, by the way, that a musician, with an idea like this, with no training or any idea about this trade, could build something up so quickly?
Király TamásOn one hand, yes, but it's also interesting that...
Király LindaIt says a lot about him.
Király TamásThat wherever he ended up working, in a restaurant, the kind of people who passed through were the ones he could get the jewelry to.
Király LindaWell, it's not a coincidence, there are things in life that seem fated sometimes.
Király TamásWell, that was more of an adventure, they weren't actually my customers. I actually started selling to the trade itself. My first really big customer, I still remember to this day, was Casta Finding, a big company selling components, to whom I showed this.
It surely helped that they saw I was trying, that's the psychological side of it. But the piece was good, they liked the product, it was lightweight, and it dressed things up nicely... it was a very sellable thing.
And this tubing business took off to such an extent that, I think, to this day, I was just looking at them, I still have two or three catalogs, ten, twelve, twenty page catalogs, which were already serious products. We made several thousand items that were specialized for everything. Not just this, and then we took it further, all sorts of goods made from tubing.
The point is, that's what I got into. Let's leave it at that.
Király LindaBut you started over from scratch more than once yourself, so this isn't unusual.
Király TamásNo, you're right, because the whole point of that first attempt was that we knew nothing about business itself. Let's not forget that I came from socialism, where business was called profiteering. So I don't know if the concept... Business itself was simply something negative, and I grew up with that, and I also felt a little that...
Király LindaThat you have to be ashamed of being successful.
Király TamásYes, you have to be ashamed. So I really didn't know, I didn't understand business at all, even though I come from a merchant family. But I myself always played music. And when I started growing very fast, I had no idea that you shouldn't grow fast, and inevitably I went bankrupt.
So already in the first or second year, when 15-20 people were working for me, I didn't know how to handle it, I didn't know what to do with the expenses, I grew too big, and I went bankrupt. And then I started the whole thing over again, built it up again. I learned what I had to learn, but there were a lot of pitfalls in my life, in my business life.
Among other things, years later, I opened a plant in Mexico, on the California-Mexico border, in Mexicali, Baja California, where 200 people worked for me by then, but all this sounds like I was some kind of stock market player, no. That's not what this is about, let's set that aside. I was just bold, maybe always. I learned a lot of things, I didn't learn a lot of things, and I'm still learning to this day.
But the truth is, if I have children someday, this is one thing I would absolutely want to pass on, because I think it's characteristic of our whole family that no matter how big a slap we get, we're able to get back up again and again, and I think it's a very, very important thing to pass that on, because I very often see, even with girlfriends, that there's a small little slap, a setback, and they break under it, they simply don't want to get back up.
Király LindaHave you had something like that?
Király TamásNo.
Király LindaBecause we talked last time about how you also had a big turning point in your life.
Király TamásThere was one, yes, but as we also discussed, it takes a certain outlook and mentality to not necessarily see the problems that come up as problems, but as opportunities, or to think, okay, I messed up now, but fine, next time I'll do it better. So this is also part of a person developing, as you said too, that we learn every day, we keep learning continuously until the end of our lives.
Király LindaAnd yes, this is such a very, very important part of life, how a person relates to these things. So yes, I haven't had a really big problem yet, I'm sure I'll have dilemmas, but thank God, somehow I glide over these things easily, or maybe I just glided over it easily and didn't understand it.
Király TamásWell, it's a matter of attitude, isn't it?
Király LindaAbsolutely.
Király TamásDo you have any more questions for your dear father?
Király LindaOf course I do.
Király TamásWell then, go ahead!
Király LindaAnd when this second venture of yours got going out there, how did it continue from there? What's going on with that now?
Király TamásWhat's going on with it now? Well, how should I put it... once the business was built up, it was going well, we built a life, a career, and as I said, I opened a plant in Mexico, and I had to fly there a lot, at least as much as if I were flying to Budapest from New York.
So it was like six or seven hours flying from New York, say to San Diego or Los Angeles, sometimes twice a week, so it was a bit tiring. At the same time it worked for me, I had a building in Long Island City, that's where my equipment was, where we manufactured the raw materials, so there were also twenty, twenty-five people there that we worked with.
I grew too big, but as a result I couldn't really control it, that part of my business sense was missing, that I couldn't delegate power. So I didn't have it in me to hand things over to certain people, or rather I would say that...
That I was so focused on costs that I felt I couldn't afford a really, really valuable person. And as a result I had to do everything myself, which wasn't good. So that wasn't really a good move, so I felt I had to get rid of one of them, so first I sold Mexico, and I sold it quite successfully, that's a separate story, I don't want to get into it now because it's even longer, but it was very exciting.
Király LindaYes. With machine guns?
Király TamásNo, no, no, no, no. You can't joke about it.
Király LindaSince we're talking about movies, you know, I sold Mexico. What do you imagine then, right?
Király TamásSo yes, to a gentleman named John Genetti, who was of similar caliber to Mike Tyson's manager, who got a good few years in America in the nineties, completely, how should I say, undeservedly, because he was actually a brilliant investor, a banker, whose material was later taught, and in fact he himself, once he was released, taught it at university, at UCLA.
Now this certain John Genetti was someone of similar caliber dealing in hot investments, but he figured out something because of which he wanted to be removed from the picture, so it was actually in his interest to buy into a factory like that.
Anyway, the point is that I managed to sell to him through an advertisement, so we met by chance.
Király LindaAnd these coincidences.
Király TamásYes. And then once this deal came together, for a good while I just ran the office, and the plant in Long Island City, from which I sold him the raw material, and meanwhile I made a deal with him where I bought up all the goods he manufactured, so I didn't have to deal with manufacturing myself. Or rather I did, just not directly.
Király LindaTelegate Power.
Király TamásWell yes. And then it happened that people approached me in Hungary, because by that time we were already selling jewelry internationally, mainly to Hungary. By then we could already go home to visit, and I was selling watch jewelry on consignment to quite a few Hungarian companies, and then they approached me in America asking whether I'd be interested in privatizing Metallat, the legal successor of the state mint.
Well, that was unheard of for me. It was simply so overwhelming that I clearly said, yes, I'm interested. And that's where the next chapter of the whole thing started, where I wound down America, kept only my customer base, and then we tried working from here.
Király LindaAnd from that point on we were dealing with something completely different again. No, the jewelry stayed.
Király TamásYes, just not that part. The jewelry stayed, unchanged. Not like back then, when I turned over many areas of the jewelry trade, but what happened then was that Linda, she had already been accepted in America into a school called Bossiz, which is a preparatory school for Giuliana's, for opera singing, and she was very talented, so she had this very individual gift of having a dramatic coloratura soprano voice, and this stood out quickly, it was the type of voice Maria Callas had, incidentally.
Király LindaI'd love to have a voice like that.
Király TamásWell, it wasn't a Mozart-type soprano, but a fuller-bodied soprano.
Király LindaYes. So her studies in this area got underway, promisingly. The boys were just clowning around.
Király TamásBut they were skater boys, you know, very cool guys.
Király LindaYes. And then a devastating shock came into our lives, when it turned out that my wife was ill. And that was actually the final push that made us decide to move back to Hungary.
Király TamásAfter she was treated in America, everything from chemotherapy to surgery, everything, we decided, because she would be happier at home. She somehow never really loved America.
Király LindaNo, no, she didn't really love it.
Király TamásYes, because as I said at the start of the conversation, we left Hungary in a way where we weren't being persecuted.
Király LindaSo it was for us, a thirst for adventure.
Király TamásYes, so we left behind a life here that you could even say was good. It's different if you leave behind other kinds of circumstances. And the point is we always longed to come back, and there's the nostalgia too, our younger years, that always meant a lot, so this push was enough that within two weeks we packed and came back to Hungary.
Király LindaA very sudden decision.
Király TamásWe shut off the gas valve, so to speak, and said, fine, but you told us we'd only be here for a year.
Well, after that I still had to travel back a lot, to settle affairs, sell properties, do this, do that, so a lot of things. So we didn't cut off the connection right away at all, and we didn't know a hundred percent yet what would happen.
Király LindaOf course.
Király TamásWe didn't know, well Linda was sixteen, seventeen years old, the boys a year younger. We didn't know how our lives would turn out. At that time we didn't even know what would happen with my wife. So really she had a twenty-five percent chance of survival.
Király LindaShe's been symptom-free ever since.
Király TamásWhich is why we stayed. So at that point there's no question anymore, when...
Király LindaWell anyway, I was thinking that up to now we've been talking about the jewelry career and so on, which then changed, because here it fell on you that you knew everyone from the music world, and not from that long ago either, because already in the late eighties, early nineties we'd started coming home to visit, so by then we'd reconnected with old acquaintances, and then suddenly my career took off.
Király TamásHere in Hungary.
Király LindaThen Viktor.
Király TamásAnd then Viktor, and then we found ourselves with a record label, then we dealt with that, then later I became the artistic director of the record label EMI, and later the managing director. Anyway.
Király LindaThat's an unbelievable story, isn't it? So from musician to jeweler to factory owner.
Király TamásWell, already that phone call...
Király LindaYes. That was very interesting. That to this day...
Király TamásBut let's say a lot of such events accompanied our whole life. I don't know why, but there were many such events.
Király LindaBut one or two of these things stuck with us not by accident, because it was so striking that it really surprised even us.
So what's it like being a grandfather?
Király TamásThe truth is it might be very, very good, but I can't really speak about it. Because my first grandchild is in America, Kyle. So for a relationship to have developed to the point where I could say, that's a grandfather relationship, well, we don't keep in touch that much, just Skype and video calls.
Király LindaWell, it's been more than a year since we've seen Beni.
Király TamásYes. My other grandchild, who is incidentally endlessly adorable, and we live closer to him, but even so there isn't such close contact for various reasons, which...
Király LindaWell, Covid didn't help with that either.
Király TamásWell, Covid interfered too, that's right, that also got in the way. So you don't really know, he's only six months old, so that truly close relationship hasn't been able to form yet, but I'm not afraid it won't form, it will form.
Király LindaWell, it's hard this way, that's for sure.
Király TamásThat's for sure. And as I told you last time, Viktor is a twin, and Ben still hasn't seen Viktor's son in person. That's a really, really tough situation. They're very... You wouldn't even think so, but they're very close.
Király LindaAnd what were you like as a father, by the way?
Király TamásWell, I'd say that for me the greatest value in life is having children. That's clear. But what it was like being one, here in a somewhat irresponsible way, I couldn't enjoy it the way Viktor or Ben do, for example. Because...
Király LindaYou worked.
Király TamásBecause I was building a life then. And I left in the morning, almost at dawn, well, we always lived at least an hour from the city, at minimum. So I had to go, and since I didn't have working hours where I'd put down work and go home, but was constantly occupied with it, I couldn't really enjoy it, and I couldn't participate as much as my wife did.
Actually I don't know how she did it, a one-year-old girl and two newborn twins, so I don't know how she managed it.
Király LindaYes, it was hard.
Király TamásWell, how should I say, I didn't have separate ways, but I wasn't as involved as my wife was.
Király LindaAnd do you regret this?
Király TamásWell, seeing that... no, I don't regret anything, but it's certain that, well I was there with them. But it's certain there are advantages and disadvantages, let's not sugarcoat it.
So the truth is, when I see that Viktor is already going crazy, because from morning to night the kid cries or something, being a good father is great, but it's often not that great. Now, I could really dress this up, but there are downsides too, regardless of that, the feeling itself of having a child, well, that's phenomenal.
Well look, however it was, we didn't grow up feeling that Dad wasn't there. We fully understood that he had to work. I don't think we turned out badly. In terms of our value system...
Well, I'm talking about the fact that our value system is in order, everything is in its place. So we're resourceful, and a lot of things worked out. Linda's life is even more of a rollercoaster. The truth is that her life alone deserves a chapter, not even a chapter, a whole book, a full book about what we went through.
And the most interesting thing in this, I'll say it, is that we went through what you might call an American career while already doing it from here. This is very, very important, because these things blur together in a Hungarian person's mind, or in the audience's eyes, they have no idea that we'd already been in Hungary for two or three years by then. And they have no idea that Linda might speak English at native level because she was born there, but apart from that she had no other advantage. So apart from that, everything had to be done the same way as for someone born in Hungary.
And we went through it for years, first to Germany, then to England, then waiting for producers, mornings and days spent waiting. My favorite phrase is hurry up and wait, so hurry, but wait. I remember quite a few years passed like that. I don't even know how I had the patience, because Linda was a teenager, young, and...
The point is that it was very, very serious when suddenly, in New York, at Universal Records again, she sang with a piano in front of a hundred people, and Mancy Lipman and Clive Davis said... Doug Morris, or who was it? Doug Morris said, would you please sign over here? Jokingly. Sign right here now. So that was like a movie scene too... It was that feeling of someone signing you, and indeed they signed a five album, five year contract, which we didn't believe. We really didn't believe it. I was there for a lot of it. Absolutely. You really were there for a lot of it. Really. Ah, okay, never mind. Have we arrived? I can't leave that out. Oh, my poultry.
Anyway, never mind, the point is... starting from the very first adventure, when we arrived in San Francisco at En Vogue's producer, Denzel Foster's place, and... because they called us out there, saying it was essential, they'd listened to Linda here in Hungary and we absolutely had to come out. We went, and then we stood in front of the studio for a whole day while it was locked. They called us to America, and then we just stood there. We stood there and waited. So it wasn't easy at all.
And then afterward, I signed with another management company, and from then on there were really tough things going on behind the scenes, so it wasn't simple. So much time, work, patience, and so on, and so on. But it's a fact that it's truly unbelievable, even today I sometimes pinch myself thinking about who I worked with and where I even was. Oh, like taking my mother to Prince's house? After the BET Awards? I had opportunities like that, so it was very, very, very intense. Anyway, never mind. But that's a separate story. That's a separate story. There's more to come sometime.
Király LindaLast time you said your parents wanted to protect you from becoming musicians.
Király TamásYeah.
Király LindaWith that? At the beginning. How was it possible to reconcile that, that she still ended up on this path...
Király TamásExactly because of this... we both went through it. Not at Linda's level, but we both went through it, and we knew it's not given for free. And that it's very hard. We also knew from within the profession, even back in Hungary, that there are tons of fakers, tons of half talents, tons of... And for my part, I felt that if Linda didn't prove she was truly talented, I wouldn't support it. Really. So I didn't want a half talent, regardless. But setting that aside... she really is a super talent. So there was simply nothing to discuss, that was a given. It was a given. So then we no longer objected.
Király LindaAnd Viktor too?
Király TamásWith Viktor it was the same... exactly the same situation, that he also has a certain gift, and it sounds very strange for me to say this, but it's just between us now. Or, does it even matter?
Király LindaYes.
Király TamásOnly people who hear it, musicians who have an ear for it, notice that both of them, well, they sing. A musician, a real musician, whatever instrument they play, doesn't think much of singers in pop music or whatever else, because they say, well, anyone can do that, right? But if someone has a special gift, and for a singer it can only be one of two things, or three. One is technique, the other is vocal power, and the third is soul. That certain emotional world through which they can convey that tone and timbre. Right? And if any of these is missing, then to me the singer isn't worth much. Anyone can sing something in a school choir, so that alone doesn't really mean anything.
Now with them, how should I put it, with Linda especially, but with Viktor too, there's a timbre that I always told them, when they started singing, treat your voice as if it were the most expensive Stradivarius violin, after a concert put it away in a velvet case and take care of it like that, because it's a gift. You can't learn this. And we have it. And that's the most essential thing. When we realized this was there, I did everything I could to make sure it was put to use.
One thing is certain, it wasn't the case that from childhood at home they pushed us to become musicians. No, we had to prove to them first that we took this very seriously. Just like the master hairdresser told us how hard he worked, whatever he touched had to be done with hard work and a pure heart. So we had to prove ourselves first, that's it. From then on, of course, once they understood we were serious about it, of course they supported us. But they were right that this isn't a simple profession, my whole career and life really is a rollercoaster.
Király LindaBut regardless... you're sitting on a particularly serious rollercoaster, which really is rare.
Király TamásWhich really is very rare. But that's how it is. Well, it doesn't matter, I think that's obviously where I draw the feelings from that I can sometimes convey. Sometimes.
Király LindaWell, if you don't have any more questions, then I want to thank you very, very much for coming to talk a little with your own daughter.
Király TamásAnd sometimes with your son too. Well, sometimes it works out.
Király LindaSo I hope we can continue this again sometime, and by the way we'll drag him here too so he can tell his stories as well.
Király TamásWhy not? Don't you want to know his side too? Of course I do. After all, our book is about something like this too.
I'll add that we didn't want this book, it was the publisher that approached us a good few years ago, and I was convinced they wanted it to be about the two main protagonists, Linda and Viktor, and then they said they actually wanted to write a book about the whole family. And it happened. Thank God it turned out well.
Király LindaI don't know, because I don't know, so I felt like...
Király TamásRight, it's strange for us. It's about our lives, but there are very exciting stories in it. As I mentioned before, if I walk into a Libri or any kind of bookstore, right at the door I feel like I'm freezing up, because it's a very strange feeling that this exists. Anyway, but at least there's a book.
Király LindaListen, the truth is, yes, at the beginning I had a very, very strange attitude toward it and really didn't like the whole thing, but I feel that at least a part of our story is preserved there. We're an incredibly close-knit family, even though sometimes we could strangle each other... but we adore each other, and I think that comes through. So thank you again so much for coming and telling a couple of stories. Bye!
