Tragically, Keith Godchaux was a passenger in an automobile accident on July 21, 1980 forty years ago today and died two days later. He began piano lessons at age five at . Oct. 19: Keith on the keys: Keith Godchaux plays his first show with the Dead as keyboardist. Those arrested include Owsley Stanley (who identifies himself to police as the King of Acid), Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. The couple began bickering heavily as lots of touring and drug use took their toll. It no longer had that sparkle and imagination that marked his best work ('72-'74). July 10: Garcia in a coma: Garcia collapses at his Marin County home and falls into a diabetic coma. Concert in Golden Gate Park with Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship 9/28/1975 But McNally tells the story of Wales auditioning with the Dead around this time. Car crash; How old was Keith Godchaux when died? August: Garcia cancels tour: Garcia cancels an 18-date East Coast tour scheduled to start in August after he collapses. ), So while its possible that Keith only started playing with the Dead near the end of the month, I think its also possible that hed met Garcia on 8/31, and perhaps even jammed with him & Kreutzmann a time or two at Keystone Korner; and rehearsals may have started earlier than we think. This destructive trio began to get the better of him in the mid-'80s. All were placed on probation for a year. The Grateful Dead were undeniably popular, but they never enjoyed what you might call "mainstream success." Then, according to his official website, he fell ill in August 1992 due to exhaustion, forcing the band to cancel an upcoming fall tour. Mydland succeeded Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. We wanted to write music to the Lord, because it didnt seem like there was much out there that was spiritual. Keith's tragic death in an automobile accident on July 23, 1980 put a pall over his departure. Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 - July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. The truth about the Trips Festival is that it was a three-night, weekend-long rock n roll dance with light effects. Lenny Hart was arguably the most aggravating of them all. Donna is still performing while Zion, whose adorably scowling infant self appears on the "Keith and Donna" LP, currently plays in the band BoomBox. Peter Simon / Retna Ltd. By then, they were pretty far gone on LSD (and who knows what else), according to John Fogerty, the former Creedence Clearwater Revival front man who recalled the incident during an interview in 2015. July 23: Keith Godchaux dies in car crash: Keith Godchaux dies in a car accident in Marin County, at age 32, about a year after leaving the band. In 1994, he was inducted, posthumously, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead. Eventually, he and Donna left the band in 1979. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images), The Grateful Dead performing at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 19, 1995. Would they go on without a keyboard player? Though he didnt necessarily live for the road, Pigpens identity was bound up with the band, and he lashed himself to their mast as long as he could, whatever the cost to himself. But when they asked me to come in and do their thing to join them I didnt really want to join the band. http://www.levity.com/gans/Donna.980328.html Keith Godchaux was born on the 19th of July, 1948. Visitors note: Incidentely, in case you are unfamiliar with the details of Keith Godchauxs death, as I recall,he and a buddy were leaving a toll plaza and drove into the back of a flatbed truck killing KG. ~BlabMstr@aol.com, A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. According to sound engineer Owsley Stanley, The Countryman pickup worked by an electrostatic principle similar to the way a condenser mic works. In early 1978, rhythm guitarist Bob Weir began to perform slide guitar parts with an eye toward variegating the groups sonic palette, with Weir concluding that desperation is the mother of invention. Garcia biographer Blair Jackson has also asserted that the quality of Keiths playing in the Dead fell off in 78 and early 79. Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 - July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. They played a total of 29 shows, and recorded two live albums Vintage Dead and Historic Dead there. 32; Where did Keith Godchaux die? Keith confirms that no time passed between meeting and playing: a couple of days later This is even briefer than in Donnas account! Detectives were attempting to determine whether Allen had fallen before he was hit. He returned to his home in Lafayette, California, in July 1990 following the completion of the band's summer tour. (Note that on some tracks Keith can hardly be heard, being too low in the mix.) He mentions in his interview with Gans, That fall I went back to Boston for graduate school. A touring iteration of the Keith & Donna Band with Kreutzmann on drums and former Quicksilver Messenger Service equipment manager Stephen Schuster on saxophone frequently opened for Grateful Dead-related groups in 1975, allowing Garcia to sit in on several occasions. Deadheads, P.O. Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California, a regional suburban center within the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. I was musical director forMuhammad Ali. Without his technical innovations he was one of the first people to mix concerts live and in stereo the band might never have emerged from the San Francisco scene, Rolling Stone wrote in a 2007 profile. He was still eager to rejoin the Dead, though, and went back on tour perhaps sooner than was wise. He later committed suicide in 2006. By then, though, bad press and ill-tempered fans had roundly criticized the shows. Jan. 31: Dylan and the Dead: Dylan & the Dead CD by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead released. After jamming with Jerry and Billy at a small club, and getting together with the Dead to work out some tunes, he joined the band in September of 1971. Theres this whole mystical energy that happens when you see the Grateful Dead and youre ready to receive it. So they hit Garcia with just the right note. From their first show as the Warlocks at a pizza place in Menlo Park to their farewell stand with three sold-out 50th anniversary shows at Chicagos Soldier Field stadium, here are some key dates on the Grateful Deads incredible journey. And he was. Though hed played with small jazz bands before, he was tired of bar gigs: When other kids my age were going to dances and stuff, I was going to bars and playing I was completely burned out on that. Oct. 2: Hashbury bust: Band members and friends are busted in a pot raid at 710 Ashbury St. Rock Scully (the long-haired groups long-haired business manager) and audio engineer Bob Matthews were fined $200 each. It no longer had that sparkle and imagination that marked his best work (72-74). The Lionel Hampton Band. Jan. 22: Trips Festival: Kesey brings in the Dead to play the Trips Festival, held at the Longshoremans Hall in San Franciscos North Beach. With Saunders' help, Garcia slowly but steadily recovered. The Grateful Dead's music has often been described as "mellow," but front man Jerry Garcia's earlier years were the exact opposite. I knew it had to happen because I had a vision Flash: go talk to Garcia I wasnt thinking about playing with them before the flash. In 1994, he was inducted, posthumously, into The Rock . Jerry had about this same time met Keith Godchaux, a piano player he and Billy had jammed with at Keystone Korner, a small club in San Francisco. (Theres also an oddly assertive moment before Cold Rain & Snow on the compilation, where Keith channels Keith Jarrett for a little solo riffing.) ', Surprisingly to anyone who ever saw him, Keith said in 72 that what Ive contributed to the band as a whole is an added amount of energy which they needed, for my taste I have a super amount of energy. Until he met Donna, who turned him on to rock & roll. As she told Rolling Stone: "Keith and I, we were wasted. Keith was also quoted in the Book of the Dead: We went into this club in San Francisco where Garcia was playing, and just talked to him. http://archive.org/details/gd1971-09-29.unsurpassed-masters-vol4-vol6.116951.flac16 bootleg comp; different mixes, sometimes very trebley, but Keith comes out more (for instance Brokedown #2, where he takes over). He was steadying a piece of wood when the ax severed a large chunk of the middle finger on his right hand. They were asked to leave at the end of 1979. The Dead managed to get through five tracks before their amps overloaded during "Turn on Your Love Light" and they finally called it quits for the night. Other violence during the concert resulted in two deaths. Initially, Godchaux incorporated a richly melodic, fluid and boogie-woogie-influenced style that intuitively complemented the bands improvisational approach to rock music; critic Robert Christgau characterized his playing as a cross between Chick Corea and Little Richard. According to Garcia in a 1980 interview with Mark Rowland conducted shortly before Godchauxs death, Keith is one of those guys who is sort of an idiot savant of the piano. ~Gone but never forgotten~ RIP, Keith. I read that she got into drugs, but what are the details of her exit? Donna remembered the Dead rehearsal being scheduled for the following Sunday, but the Dead canceled and only Jerry came. And Godchaux had . Never mind the trauma of being fired . Although the band had employed several other keyboardists (including Howard Wales, Merl Saunders and Ned Lagin) as session musicians to augment McKernans limited instrumental contributions following the departure of Tom Constanten in January 1970, Godchaux was invited to join the group as a permanent member in September 1971. Jerry Garcia fell into a coma and forgot how to play guitar Shutterstock Garcia struggled with three heavy addictions throughout his adult life: smoking, drugs, and overeating. News of Mydlands death spread quickly through the close-knit Deadhead community, which follows the bands every move. 19 July 1948; d. 23 July 1980) After years of ill-health through alcohol abuse, Pigpen died in 1973. He died the next year in a car accident. It was there that the years of touring and drug use became too much, and he suffered from a fatal heart attack . The pair become known as the Rhythm Devils. This makes him the second Grateful Dead keyboard player to suffer a tragic death at an age . The next two in line: "Uncle John's Band" (No. 91. He was involved in an automobile accident, colliding with another car, and was ejected from the vehicle (he wasn't wearing a seatbelt). This seems to have entirely slipped Donnas memory! Backup singer Donna Jean Godchaux once woke up under husband Keith Godchaux's piano. They left before their set after learning that a member of the Hells Angels, who were hired as security guards, knocked out Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin during his performance. As of 2014, they'd sold over 35 million albums, according to theNew York Times. (And though no one knew it, Pigpen was likely beyond recovery by that point anyway.) But when we heard the Grateful Deadit seemed to have such spiritual ties. What were the circumstances of Donna Jean Godchaux leaving The Grateful Dead? John Kahn remembered, One night there were a lot of people out there, and Howard realized that thats not what he wanted to do, and he stopped doing it. Garcia also said, Howard went offperiodically he gets this thing of where he just cant deal with the music world any more, and he just disappears., Of course there were plenty of other keyboard players around San Francisco who might have auditioned. I have to think that, if it was Sunday the 19th, due to the sudden turmoil of Pigpens illness, it seems unlikely Jerry & Bill would have jammed with anyone that day. McKernan returned to the band in late 1971 and managed to stick around through their 1972 European tour. Note that Pigpen went into the hospital the next day. After the band splits up, the band members form several (sometimes overlapping) side projects, including RatDog, Bobby and the Midnites, the Other Ones, the Dead, Furthur, Dark Star Orchestra, Rhythm Devils, Missing Man Formation, Move Me Brightly and others. He had checked in two days earlier. The Dead may have been considering a new keyboard player even before Pigpen succumbed, and if Keith had already been playing with Garcia informally, their next candidate was right in front of them. At the break, Garcia walked by going backstage, so I grabbed him and said, Jerry, my husband and I have something very important to talk to you about. And he said, Sure. Exactly 10 years after, on July 23, 1990, his replacement behind. (We dont know how poor Pigpens health was in early September, but the Dead may have been aware before 9/17 that he was in decline.) When I met them, I knew these were people I could trust with my head. Favourite eras are always going to vary with Deadheads. Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California, a regional suburban center within the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay . A year later, at just 27, he tragically died of internal hemorrhaging and his landlady discovered his corpse in his apartment in Corte Madera, California. This seems superhuman, though it means his first day with the full Dead would have been the 27th. In fact, it sounds like hes already settled in. Private Life. That era in the band's history was riddled with countless incidents, both delightful and madcapped. Lesh later felt guilty about this: It would have been better for him if wed just canceled the tour and let him recover all his strength at his own pace It was agreed that Pig would rejoin the band when he felt up to it. I want to play it. And it was like, Yeahhh! He died a year later in a car accident, at the age of 32. Hed played piano in club bands since he was 14: I spent two years wearing dinner jackets and playing acoustic piano in country club bands and Dixieland groups I also did piano bar gigs and put trios together to back singers in various places around the Bay Area[playing] cocktail standards like Misty the way jazz musicians resentfully play a song thats popular that frustrated space I just wasnt into it I was looking for something real to get involved with which wouldnt necessarily be music. (Getting a job was out of the question: I could never see working during the day, and nobody would hire me for anything, anyway.) Or perhaps the Dead initially saw Keith as a temporary stand-in, a Hornsby-like figure until Pigpen could be eased back in. Two old war horses here one who cant sing; the other who cant play captured in live performances from six 1987 concert dates together, wrote Chronicle Music Critic Marty Racine. He was replaced by Keith Godchaux from Dave Masons band, who together with his wife Donna on vocals compensated for the tragic loss. Now hell be gone for a long time, this lovable, huggable bear with the twinkly eyes and the best of vibes, wrote Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. According to a Rolling Stone clipping from the Grateful Dead's official archives, he was found "baptizing Jesus freaks" in San Diego. Mixed By - Gene Eichelberger, Merl Saunders. (Not only that, it would mean they lost no time in taping rehearsals with the new guy, in fact starting immediately. A few minutes later, Garcia came up and sat next to Keith, and I said, Honey, I think Garcias hinting that he wants to talk to you. She and Keith fared much better during the band's studio sessions. The animation and liveliness are through the roof! It was also one beset by a series of unfortunate incidents, controversies, and the tragic deaths of several of its key members. All of that was reportedly behind him as he welcomed a newborn baby daughter, his fourth and youngest child, in December 1987. I was ready to receive it, and I got it. The Dead even planned to play a benefit with him at the Harding Theater on September 3-4, 1971: He would not be alone. He was also a deft songwriter and wrote several tunes for the Dead throughout the decade that appeared on their studio albums. That guy had it all, he could play anything Its like he came forth fully grown. Weir (no doubt rolling his eyes) recalled: We spurred him towards new heights of weirdness and he spurred us towards new heights of weirdnessmuch too weird much too quickeverybody backed off, scratched their head and said, Well, maybe, uh, next incarnation. It was during this time that Donna took a break from music. He penned a large portion of what would become their final studio effort, 1989's Built to Last, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. But note: the jerrysite lists the New Riders playing the Friends & Relations Hall in San Francisco on Sept 17-19, which wouldnt preclude daytime rehearsals. And there does seem to have been a spiritual tie this moment prefigures not just Keiths time with the Dead, but the later Keith & Donna band with Garcia sitting in, and the Garcia Band circa 76 with Keith & Donna, bringing gospel music into the shows. (I would imagine Lesh might also have liked to play with Wales more back in 69 he had complained to Constanten: Phil pointedly remarked how much he preferred Howard Waless playing when he sat in with the band.) The Grateful Dead lost two keyboardists and one lead singer/guitarist to substance abuse, one keyboardist (Keith Godchaux, who Lesh once said reached "an almost vegetative state" due to drugs. He was very strong but he couldnt handle that sort of thing. March 3: Live on Haight Street: The band plays a free show on the back of a flatbed truck for thousands assembled on Haight Street. Watch Keith and Donna Godchaux Perform in 1975 at Winterland Keith and Donna regrouped and started the Heart of Gold Band, featuring a hot-shot Bay Area guitarist named Steve Kimock. Why would I want to work in the Dead and just be the way they worked? He was proud of doing music theater: During the late 60s, I was doing a Broadway play in New York at the George Abbott Theatre. Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Brandeis gave me a fellowship that included all expenses, plus recording tape and all sorts of stuff to work with in their electronic music studio. Many college students wouldnt think twice between the option of another year at school or joining the Grateful Dead; but Lagin was on his own path. Pretty speedy, for the Dead! The concerts were legendary, some people said, for either their guest appearances, which included Phish's Trey Anastasio and singer/pianist Bruce Hornsby, and the high ticket prices. Beginning in 1992, his works make an unlikely appearance on a line of neckties. Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in July 1980. When he was asked why he hadnt joined the band in 1990, he said, Ive always done my own thing. Jan. 16: Raising the Dead: Surviving members guitarist Weir, 67, bassist Lesh, 75, and drummers Kreutzmann, 69, and Hart, 71 resurrect the Dead with a final tour to celebrate the bands 50th anniversary. We may never know. I didnt realize that everyone does that to him. Jerry asked him to come down to our old studio and the two of us threw every curveball we could, but he was right on top of every improvised change. The group reorganised, bringing in Mark Adler on keyboards and David Mackay on bass, and continued to tour until folding in early 1981. The last music performed by the entire band is a medley of Black Muddy River and Box of Rain.. Altogether, its a pleasant enough affair for the Geritol set. Aug. 17: Woodstock shock: The Dead give a famously poor performance at Woodstock. A statement issued by the band said: Jerry Garcia is in a hospital receiving treatment for the sudden onset of diabetes and a general systemic infection as a result of an abscessed tooth and exhaustion following a road tour. The bands publicist denies that drugs are involved. From September 28, we have our first tape of their rehearsals with Keith Godchaux. It had a quality that was magical, ethereal, spiritual, and thats part of what was so attractive about it. Keith & Donna Godchaux, whod married in November 1970 shortly after her first Dead show, were both already Dead fans. The closest thing they ever came to a chart-topper was "Touch of Grey," a track they recorded in the mid-1980s. Although I did record with the Dead. His son Mickey played in the band in the late '60s, eventually becoming their longtime percussionist. Keith Godchaux was born on July 19, 1948 in San Francisco, California, USA. I wanted to be myself and go the direction I wanted. These songs received fairly steady airtimefollowing their releases, according to Billboard, but there was about a 15-year gap from 1972 to 1987 when the Dead's music was largely ignored on the dials. Donna Jean had served as a studio vocalist prior to that and had performed with the likes of Elvis Presley, Dionne Warwick, and Neil Diamond. Throughout the late 1970s, he was frequently embroiled in violent domestic scuffles with Donna, who also developed an alcohol use disorder. Keith Godchaux, pianist of the Grateful Dead from 1971 through early 1979, would have been 65 years old today. June 18: Monterey Pop: The Grateful Dead play the Monterey Pop Festival, in between the Who and Jimi Hendrix (who famously sets his guitar on fire during his performance). Although the band took the predictable long breaks between songs, many of the tunes were stitched together end-to-end, as the Dead played as tightly as a soul band, Joel Selvin wrote in The Chronicle. 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