French-American rock band, formed 1970 in Paris by four American expatriates and future core members Ron Altbach (keyboards), Eddie Tuleja (guitar), Rod Novak (bass, saxophone) and Dave "Doc" Robinson (keyboards, bass, lead vocals). King Harvest was best known for their US hit single "Dancing In The Moonlight", released in 1972. Afterwards the group relocated from France to the US (Olcott, NY).
At times, the group consisted of three keyboardists Altbach, Robinson, and Sherman Kelly, plus Tuleja on guitar, Novak on sax, Tony Cahill on bass, and David Montgomery on drums. All had been involved previously with other bands and done session work. In 1971, they released several singles in France on various labels, and the next year, they signed to the small Perception label. Their first single with Perception was Sherman Kelly's Dancing In The Moonlight, a soulful pop song that he and Robinson had performed with their earlier group, Boffalongo. It reached number 13 in the US in early 1973 but King Harvest's future singles were unable to match its success. Only one other single, A Little Bit Like Magic, charted, reaching number 91 in 1973.
The original line-up recorded two albums, the European exclusive King Harvest - I Can Tell, and King Harvest - Dancing In The Moonlight, which mostly consists of songs from their debut album with a few songs swapped in. The latter was released in the US, and it reached number 136 on Billboard 200. The group made other singles through 1973 and 1974, but they disbanded shortly afterwards. A new version of the group was formed in 1975, and included four original members. With support from Beach Boys members Carl Wilson and Mike Love, they were signed to A&M Records and made another album, but, failing to achieve any hits, they subsequently broke up. Tuleja played on Dennis Wilson's 1977 solo album Dennis Wilson (2) - Pacific Ocean Blue while Altbach and Robinson performed with Love in his band Celebration. King Harvest have reformed multiple times since 1975, though rarely releasing new music.
For the NZ/Australian band see King Harvest (2)
