John Kay (born Joachim Fritz Krauledat; April 12, 1944) is an American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist known as the frontman of Steppenwolf. Early Life Kay was born on April 12, 1944 in Tilsit, East Prussia, Germany (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). His father Fritz, born 1913 in Absteinen near Pogegen in the Memelland (today Opstainys in Pagėgiai Municipality, Lithuania), was killed a month before Kay was born. In early 1945, Kay's