Kay suffers from increased sensitivity to light, so he wears his trademark sunglasses. He also has congenital achromatopsia (complete colorblindness), a defect of the cone cells in the eyes which causes him to see in black and white, and results in legal blindness. Despite this condition, he is an avid videographer.

John Kay (born July 16, 1704, near Bury, Lancashire, England—died c. 1780, France) was an English machinist and engineer, inventor of the flying shuttle, which was an important step toward automatic weaving.

In February 1972, Steppenwolf disbanded; Kay, Henry and Biondo continued working together, while Edmonton and McJohn formed a group called Manbeast. In early 1974 Steppenwolf reformed, with guitarist Bobby Cochran joining returning members Kay, Biondo, Edmonton and McJohn.

He's another of those longstanding rock stars that is still going strong." After 50 years of performing, Steppenwolf played its final show in October 2018 and John Kay (founder, vocalist and primary songwriter of Steppenwolf) has returned to his early musical days and will perform solo.