In 1994, he was inducted, posthumously, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead. He died there at the all-too-young age of 37, according to theNew York Times. Eventually, according to Donna Jean Godchaux, Keith and I decided we wanted to get out and start our own group or something else anything else. Then I floated for about six months, and then ended up playing with the Grateful Dead. Keith Godchaux was born on July 19, 1948 and died on July 22, 1980. So Garcia told us to come backstage, but we were both too scared, so we didnt. The lineup also includes the John Handy Quintet, Jefferson Airplane and the Mystery Trend. He mentions in his interview with Gans, That fall I went back to Boston for graduate school. Whats interesting here is that theyre playing Garcia THEIR music, in order to convince him of their rightness for the band. Altogether, its a pleasant enough affair for the Geritol set. Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in July 1980. The Lionel Hampton Band. 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. [email protected], A Site About Dead Musicians and how they got that way. 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. Our tapes come from several days theyre cassette copies with variable mixes and shifty sound quality. Like many other rock bands, managers caused the Grateful Dead plenty of headaches over the years. Dec. 31: Working for the man: Grateful Dead signs with Warner Bros. Records. The Deads song Alice D. Millionaire was inspired by newspaper accounts that described him as the LSD millionaire.. When I met them, I knew these were people I could trust with my head. The incident landed on the cover of The Chronicle and both Weir and founding member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were arrested. 9. 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. I wasnt playing with anyone else before that. Sept. 14: Alive in Egypt: The Grateful Dead begin three days of shows at the Egyptian pyramids. Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948-July 23, 1980) . 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. Hes sitting right next to you. He looked over at Jerry and looked back at me and dropped his head on the table and said, Youre going to have to talk to my wife. This brings up the question of just which was the Keystone show where Keith & Donna met Garcia. During his tenure with the Dead, his only lead vocal was Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, from Wake of the Flood (1973). More on Keith. That guy had it all, he could play anything Its like he came forth fully grown. He was steadying a piece of wood when the ax severed a large chunk of the middle finger on his right hand. Mime Troupe Appeal Party II. Allow bottle-throwing gate-crashers to keep on thinking theyre cool anarchists instead of the creeps they are. In St. Louis that summer, the deck at a campground where many fans were staying for a Dead show collapsed, sending 108 people to the hospital. But there were still a lot of ups and downs. After two weeks there, he would continue his treatment at the Serenity Knolls clinic. Tragically, after only 1 concert, Keith Godchaux was wiped out in a vehicle accident on July 23, 1980, in Marin Region, CA. 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. 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. Or perhaps the Dead initially saw Keith as a temporary stand-in, a Hornsby-like figure until Pigpen could be eased back in. Photography By [Back Cover] - Cadillac Ron. He was also a deft songwriter and wrote several tunes for the Dead throughout the decade that appeared on their studio albums. 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. July 12: Together again: The Dead perform their first official Bay Area show following the hiatus at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. As the band's sound took a psychedelic turn, his role was continually reduced. He notes (from a different Donna interview) that after meeting Jerry, she tried calling the Deads office a few times with no luck she called the office and left several messages, but was ignored. Former pianist of the Grateful Dead died here on 7/26/1990. ), 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. 9 on the Billboard charts. Just playing cocktail lounges and clubs., He played jazz piano & cocktail music in a Walnut Creek club, but was just starting to get into rock & roll. Some tried to sell them online for thousands, with one ambitious seller asking an astronomical $116,000 for a three-day pass. (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.) Donna has returned to live in the Shoals area and is active in the Christian ministry. Tweet. Exactly 10 years after, on July 23, 1990, his replacement behind. The band is locked in, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir are lively and animated, Phil Lesh is commanding with his powerful bass playing, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart in sync pushing the tempo and building jams to a new level, Donna Jean Godchaux's vocals are on point, while her husband Keith Godchaux's fingers dance all over . Share. Oct. 16: Dead at the Winterland: The Dead play a five-night stand at the Winterland Ballroom. The other members asked the Godchauxs to leave in early 1979, and only a year later, a car accident would take Keith Godchaux's life at the age of 32. Back in the '60s, his regular usage of LSD earned him the nickname "Captain Trips" and he later developed a nasty heroin habit. 91. 19 July 1948; d. 23 July 1980) After years of ill-health through alcohol abuse, Pigpen died in 1973. The band would not last long, as Keith died tragically in a car accident soon after the band's first show. "The Warlocks," who would later rename their band "The Grateful Dead," perform a show in 1965. And Mr. Godchaux had replaced the band's original keyboard player, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died at 27 . Rock Musician. Aug 2, 2018 - Explore Michal Strickland's board "Donna and Keith Godchaux" on Pinterest. The instruments unwieldy tuning partially contributed to the shelving of the bands recordings of their 1978 engagement at the Giza Plateau for a planned live album. In one chapter in his candid new autobiography, he recounts how on a tour with the fabled Bay Area band in the . The interesting thing is that when he saw the Dead, he thought they needed more energy: When Id heard them play a couple of times, they really got me off; I was really high. 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. During a family vacation when Garcia was 5 years old, he decided to help his older brother chop wood. Keith & Donna Godchaux, whod married in November 1970 shortly after her first Dead show, were both already Dead fans. The culprit: a lethal dose of heroin and speed. 42 yrs ago, Keith Godchaux lost his life as the result of a car crash. (Theres also an oddly assertive moment before Cold Rain & Snow on the compilation, where Keith channels Keith Jarrett for a little solo riffing.) Brother of Brian Godchaux. The Heart of Gold Band was formed in early 1980, shortly after Keith and Donna Godchaux had left the Grateful Dead in 1979. 64. 06/26/1981, Restaurant chain slated to close site at Bay Area mall, Grapevine closed indefinitely due to heavy snow and ice, Graupel falls on Disneyland, shocks guests, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, Plan to bring bullet train from LA to Vegas is underway, What it looks like inside Coit Towers former apartment, Avalanche slams into Tahoe apartment building amid blizzard, Hundreds of thousands of workers have abandoned downtown SF, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, Tahoe's snowfall totals are on track to break records, Popular yet divisive fast food chain coming to this Bay Area town, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, BJs Restaurant to permanently close Bay Area mall location, Snow, graupel fall on Los Angeles and Disneyland during California storm, Grapevine closed indefinitely due to snow and ice, authorities say. Like [they] didnt quite have the strength to pull the load, As far as I know, all the accounts of Keiths joining the Dead come from Donnas story as told to Blair Jackson for the Golden Road magazine in 1985. He died a year later in a car accident, at the age of 32. Not that a lack of Grammy Awards hurt their sales. 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. In later interviews, he sounds like he preferred the independence & freedom to work on his own projects. Detectives were attempting to determine whether Allen had fallen before he was hit. 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. McNally has but a few details to add: Keith Richard Godchaux. What were the circumstances of Donna Jean Godchaux leaving The Grateful Dead? Throughout this period, Godchauxs rented pianos were outfitted with a state-of-the-art pickup system designed by Carl Countryman. Considering what he would play later, its surprising that when his jazz trio went in the Chick Corea direction, Keith decided I didnt really have any feeling for that type of music, and instead listened to big-band jazz, Bill Evans, and bebop: the musicians the guys I was playing with were emulating After gigs wed go to somebodys house and listen to jazz until the sun came up. Photography By [Front Cover] - Andy Leonard (2) Vocals, Co-producer - Donna Godchaux. He was in a coma until 2009, when it was reported that he was in a "semi-conscious state". Until he met Donna, who turned him on to rock & roll. He gave me his number. He played the piano and keyboards in the rock band "The Grateful Dead" from 1970 . http://archive.org/details/gd71-09-xx.sbd.unknown.16897.sbeok.shnf compilation; Keith mixed up on some tracks Aidin Vaziri is a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle. A rumor went around claiming that it was simulated and had cost $50,000 to slap up in the sky during a 17-minute version of "Viola Lee Blues." He had checked in two days earlier. 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. 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. Both Keith Godchaux and Brent Mydland died after being fired from the band, Mydland from an overdose, and Godchaux from a car crash injury. Donna Jean would eventually re-marry when she met another Bay Area musician, bass player David MacKay, and the two moved back to her hometown of . It didn't pan out. All of that was reportedly behind him as he welcomed a newborn baby daughter, his fourth and youngest child, in December 1987. A few years later, the band ran into trouble in New Orleans during a drug raid that, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, didn't really surprise anyone. Sept. 7: Vince Welnick joins: Vince Welnick, formerly of the Tubes, joins the Grateful Dead on keyboards after Mydlands death. He didnt have to work his way into it. 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. Did a lot of recording with Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne. Someday, Godchaux. We just danced right along on top. It was during this time that Donna took a break from music. The head Deadhead is immortal. We wanted to write music to the Lord, because it didnt seem like there was much out there that was spiritual. Donna Jean Godchaux McKay Interview of Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay for the Roots of American Music Trail Donna has returned to live in the Shoals area and is active in the Christian ministry. Lowell George, Keith Godchaux: Little Feat: November 1979: Covered by Vilperin Perikunta: Spanish Moon: Lowell George: Little Feat: April 1974: Covered by : Straight from the Heart: Lowell George, Bill Payne: Little Feat: November 1979: Covered by Chris Hillman and Jennifer Warnes: Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Dec. 4: Can you pass the Acid Test? The couple managed to quickly bounce back. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. 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. ~Gone but never forgotten~ RIP, Keith. According to a Rolling Stone clipping from the Grateful Dead's official archives, he was found "baptizing Jesus freaks" in San Diego. She and Keith fared much better during the band's studio sessions. The Grateful Dead's set wasn't one of them. There's no question, however, that the quality of Keith's playing in the Dead fell off in '78 and early '79. (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.) Or, the traditional story could be true: the Dead suddenly discovered after the 17th that they needed a new player; Garcia met one that very week, and they snatched him up immediately; and he learned all their songs in a week or less. After moving to California, Thatcher married keyboardist Keith Godchaux in 1970 and then in 1972 Mr and Mrs. Godchaux (pronounced "god show") joined improvisation rock band the Grateful Dead, and . . Other founding members of the group were guitarist Steve Kimock, drummer Greg Anton, bassist Dexter LaBlanc, and vocalist Greta Rose. Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann doesn't mince words or pull any punches. Enough to shut down every resort. The word is that the first gig was sensational, and a few days later they went into the Deads Front Street Studio. Faced with the choice to crash into the Grateful Dead's house and a Hells Angels house, he chose the Hells Angels as his landing pad. There had also been problems at several recent concerts. On September 17, 1971, Ron Pigpen McKernan went into the hospital, seriously ill and near death. Mydland had succeeded Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. The album was recorded at their home in Stinson Beach, California, where they lived in the 1970s. 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 began piano lessons at age five at . Throughout the late 1970s, he was frequently embroiled in violent domestic scuffles with Donna, who also developed an alcohol use disorder. August: Garcia cancels tour: Garcia cancels an 18-date East Coast tour scheduled to start in August after he collapses. He died at the age of 32 on July 23, 1980, four days after his birthday. He was previously married to Donna Godchaux. Possibly they could have moved to a studio to tape some of the sessions, though.) 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