Jack Kittel

‘Psycho' is a dark, haunting, flawlessly performed country ballad that just could not be suppressed, and along with the memory of the artist who recorded it, has – once again – made a comeback. The story of ‘Psycho’ and singer Jack Kittel begins in 1973 in Muskegon, Mich. It was there that Jack recorded the song written in the late ’50s by Leon Payne, a blind San Antonio street singer whose more conventional works have been performed by the likes of Elvis and Johnny Cash. At first, radio stations wouldn’t play the newly pressed record, judging the lyrics too controversial. Then a Grand Rapids disc jockey gave it some air time on an “underground” show – and ‘Psycho’ became an instant hit. GRC, an Atlanta-based label, was drawing the attention of other artists as well as national publications such as Zoo World, which described it as “a brilliantly grisly depiction of alienation taken to its ultimate extreme.” On Sept. 28, 1996, Jack, who was living with his family in New Era, Mich., died at the age of 49 when his Jeep was struck by another vehicle – and less than two months later, his rendition of ‘Psycho’ surfaced in the movie ‘Larger Than Life,’ a comedy in which Bill Murray enlists the aid of a deranged trucker as he struggles to transport an inherited elephant across the country. As the trucker becomes increasingly unhinged, Jack’s voice, coming from the radio, fills the cab – and movie theaters through America and the world. Indeed, ‘Psycho’.