Oct. 19: Keith on the keys: Keith Godchaux plays his first show with the Dead as keyboardist. Donna Godchaux married her first husband and fellow Grateful Dead member Keith Godchaux in 1970. . I remember when we auditioned him. By all accounts, Lenny Hart was a weird guy. And Godchaux had . A couple of days later I was playing with him and Bill, and it just sort of came together.. Blair Jackson observes that Keith had also played on a James & the Good Brothers record (a band the Dead were friends with) Kreutzmann played drums on one track, and the album was recorded by Betty Cantor, so Keith may not have been a complete unknown to Garcia. Keith Godchaux: Age 32 | Cause Of Death: CAR CRASH Grateful Dead (b. ' This was the second time Pigpen had been replaced by another player; but he probably took it in stride, as he had more serious things to worry about. In a backstage interview with Mickey Hart years ago, he smiled when I suggested that the core members of the Dead may have precipitated their passing with their hazing. Jan. 31: Dylan and the Dead: Dylan & the Dead CD by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead released. He died the next year in a car accident. No doubt, though it cant be measured.. As for his nickname, which was inspired by the messyPeanuts character, it was due to his "funky approach to life and sanitation," according to Ultimate Classic Rock. Oct. 31: Saturday Night Dead: The Grateful Dead make an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Tom Davis and Al Franken go backstage, asking the band to introduce them to the audience. He played the piano and keyboards in the rock band "The Grateful Dead" from 1970 . Pigpen and Bob Weir were fined $100 each. In 1982, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir appear on Late Night With David Letterman.. He never checked out and sadly died a little over a week after his 53rd birthday while in his sleep on August 9, 1995. With Pigpen sick, three major United States tours facing them, and the desire to have another good musician to add to their music, Keith was asked to join., Promo bios of each of the bandmembers released at the same time include this about Keith: While they did only five shows in Chicago and Santa Clara, the band made over $52 million in revenue and a few waves in the process. They managed to get back $63,000 of the lost cash, and Hart died of natural causes in 1975. 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. I would guess there must have been more rehearsals over the next couple weeks (they had to have tried out some of the deep jams), but no more tapes have come forth. But their time with the band took a nasty turn toward the end of the decade. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. During his first few years with the band, Mydland played in the shadow of the other more famous band members, but in recent years, he had come on as a stronger presence, Kevin Leary wrote in The Chronicle. I wasnt playing with anyone else before that. After playing an upright piano and increasingly sporadic Hammond organ on the fall 1971 tour, Godchaux primarily played acoustic grand piano (including nine-foot Yamaha and Steinway instruments) at concerts from 1972 to 1974. : Wikipedia, Bookogs. That era in the band's history was riddled with countless incidents, both delightful and madcapped. Godchaux sustained massive head injuries after being involved in a car crash while being driven home on his birthday on 7/19/80 and he died four days later on 7/23/80 at age 32. I was ready to receive it, and I got it. At the time, Godchaux was largely supported by his wife and irregularly employed as a lounge pianist in Walnut Creek, California. ', 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. (Note that on some tracks Keith can hardly be heard, being too low in the mix.) Jan. 22: Trips Festival: Kesey brings in the Dead to play the Trips Festival, held at the Longshoremans Hall in San Franciscos North Beach. McKernan returned to the band in late 1971 and managed to stick around through their 1972 European tour. The cause of death was "acute. Very few songs even stumble or break down. Garcia would soon get the chance to play some more with Wales in the January 72 east-coast tour supporting the Hooteroll release. While these bios are brief and lacking in detail (Donnas role is not mentioned at all), they were written only a few months later, so they should be taken into account. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF. Those arrested include Owsley Stanley (who identifies himself to police as the King of Acid), Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. (It also may explain why Donna had a hard time reaching Jerry on the phone that week, though there doesnt seem enough time for multiple phone calls.) They dug turning me on to bebop and where it came from. Keyboardist Keith Godchaux joined the band with his wife, singer Donna Jean Godchaux, in late 1971 following a fortuitous encounter with Garcia at San Francisco's Keystone Club. Donna has returned to live in the Shoals area and is active in the Christian ministry. Tragically, Keith Godchaux was a passenger in an automobile accident on July 21, 1980 forty years ago today and died two days later. He had a heart of music. He began piano lessons at age five at . The decision was made quickly. Even though hed never played any Grateful Dead tunes before[he] picked up the songs practically the first time througheverything he played fit perfectly in the spaces between [our] parts. The couple's work helped to fundamentally shape the sound of the band during what. Garcia received a tip that the police were en route. How much snow did Tahoe get? Feb. 23: Winterland bailout: A benefit is held at Winterland with Jefferson Airplane, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Santana, Its a Beautiful Day, and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks to help raise money to cover the $37,000 bail charges racked up in the Deads New Orleans bust. From a note on the Dicks Picks 35 Houseboat Tapes: In the late summer of 1971, just before Keith Godchaux began rehearsals with the Dead, Garcia handed him a big box of tapes and said, Here, this is our most recent tour. Jerry Garcia Bob Weir Bill Kreutzmann Phil Lesh Mickey Hart Robert Hunter Ron "Pigpen" McKernan Just a little over a year after leaving, Keith died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Donna told Blair Jackson, When Keith and I first got together, we wrote some music that we wanted to be meaningful and spiritual. 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. He was in a car accident and received massive head injuries from which he didn't recover. 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. Although they had been with the band for some years, Keith and Donna Godcheaux had never truly fitted in. However, in 2017, an album and a box set of live performances from 1977debutedat No. Thats it! We were just so high and in love! The last music performed by the entire band is a medley of Black Muddy River and Box of Rain.. McNally has but a few details to add: Sept. 25: Dead for 15 years: To celebrate the bands 15th anniversary, the Dead open an 18-date run at the Warfield theater in San Francisco. Over 100,000 fans witnessed the band's return at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey on September 3, 1977 and then the Dead launched a fall tour with two nights in Seattle on September 28 and. Manager Jon McIntire remembered when he first heard about Keith: I saw Garcia and asked him what it was about, and he shook his head, very amazed, and said, Well, this guy came along and said he was our piano player. Exactly 10 years after, on July 23, 1990, his replacement behind. But if they asked him, he was not interested. Watch the Dead live in '77 at Winterland on 12/31/78 Video unavailable Watch on YouTube Watch on Other founding members of the group were guitarist Steve Kimock, drummer Greg Anton, bassist Dexter LaBlanc, and vocalist Greta Rose. Want to end the touring life of the Grateful Dead? an Internet message board post from the band read. Mydland succeeded Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. I never had the pleasure of meeting him -although I came very close to it- met his wife, and had many occasions to be in close proximity during concerts by both the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band. The Great Pyramids of Giza have survived all kinds of visitors over the centuries, from the Roman legions to Napoleon. Despite his early death, the music that Godchaux created during his time with the Dead would become some of the band's most beloved. 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. Keith in happier times. He would not be alone. Keith Godchaux replaced him at keys until 1979, when drug use forced his departure. July 27: Terrapin Station: After 15 albums on Warner Bros., their own Round label and United Artists, the Grateful Dead release their first album for Arista Records, Terrapin Station. Arista remained their label for the rest of their recording career. On this date in 1980, former keyboardist Keith Godchaux tragically died in a car accident just days after his 32nd birthday. Donna is still performing while Zion, whose adorably scowling infant self appears on the "Keith and Donna" LP, currently plays in the band BoomBox. Map & Directions. (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.) I had not taken anything, and I was just blown away. She told Blair Jackson, I couldnt sleep that night because I was so excited. More on Keith. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). 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. 10 and No. According to his official website, it was due to his "lack of suitability to the military lifestyle.". Keith Godchaux (1971 - 1979) . (Possibly the first instrument he played with Garcia was the organ, though I dont think Keith had any experience with it; at any rate, organ was the Deads first choice for many of the new songs.) ), In early 1972, the Dead had a little promotional flurry, releasing a few band biographies for the press & fans. There were allegations of marital abuse as Keith's drug use increased, and they were both booted in 1979. 9, putting the Dead in the Top 10 for the first and last time. It no longer had that sparkle and imagination that marked his best work (72-74). By all accounts, he was a shy, nice person and no Dead members were much interested in publicly discussing in detail their musical frustrations with him, not wanting to speak ill of the dead. 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. So I understood those roots, but I never got taken on that kind of trip with rock and roll and I never had the sense to take myself on it. In fact, in one interview with Lemieux it was speculated that Keith never even took the reels out of their box. 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