It wouldve become obvious pretty soon, though, that Keith was born to play with the Dead. The Grateful Dead had a fair number of run-ins with the law back in the '60s and '70s. Garcia and Weir have said that their microphones kept shocking them. Then Jerry called Kreutzmann and got him to come down, and the three of them played some. They were finally given the "all-clear" around 10:30 p.m. after a delay of several hours and being assured by the stage crew they wouldn't be electrocuted. According to Godchaux, I first saw the Grateful Dead play with a bunch of my old ladys friends who were real Grateful Dead freaks. : . The Grateful Dead were undeniably popular, but they never enjoyed what you might call "mainstream success." He penned a large portion of what would become their final studio effort, 1989's Built to Last, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in journalism and political science. 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. Two drummers! 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. Godchaux sustained massive head injuries in an auto accident while being driven home on his birthday by noted tie-dye artist Courtenay Pollock (who was hosting the Godchauxs at his home in San Geronimo, California as they worked with their new band) in July 1980. ' 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. (Note that on some tracks Keith can hardly be heard, being too low in the mix.) (Ironically, he became unhappy with Brandeis and soon dropped out, to resurface on a later Dead tour), Merl Saunders, of course, was playing with Garcia all the time, plus he had done studio overdubs on several songs for the Deads 1971 live album that summer. No doubt, though it cant be measured.. MARTINEZ, Calif. A lethal mixture of morphine and cocaine commonly known as a "speedball" killed Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland, a coroner reported Friday. Never mind the trauma of being fired . Godchaux sustained massive head injuries in an automobile accident while being driven home from his birthday party in Marin County, California, on July 21, 1980. So those are the things that if I was with the Grateful Dead, I couldnt do. During the band's early days, he was considered its heart and soul. The Grateful Dead's Tragic Real-Life Story. After that the Godchaux's went on to form the Heart of Gold band, and released one album, but it was short-lived as Keith died in a car accident on July 23rd, 1980, just over one year after leaving the Grateful Dead. The cause of death was "acute. He would not be alone. He died a year later in a car accident, at the age of 32. He even took up scuba diving in the late '80s as part of an apparent commitment to clean living. 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.) It had a way of crackling in humid conditions and making other rather unmusical sounds if not set up just right, but when it worked it was truly brilliant. The control box also enabled Godchaux to use a wah-wah pedal with the instrument. Its also interesting to hear him on organ on songs like Jack Straw, Tennessee Jed & Truckin on 9/29. . Garcia would soon get the chance to play some more with Wales in the January 72 east-coast tour supporting the Hooteroll release. Despite occasional flirtations with synthesizers (most notably a Polymoog during the groups spring 1977 tour), this tendency was foregrounded by the reintegration of second drummer Mickey Hart, resulting in a heavily percussive sound with little sustain beyond Garcias leads. April 16: Mydland joins on keys: Keyboardist Brent Mydland replaces Keith and Donna Godchaux. ', 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. And the hippies did what they do best; they transformed the street into a sunny arcade of pleasure, celebrating the now with unqualified exuberance, wrote Jerry Carroll in The Chronicle on March 4, 1968. Keith died in July 1980. Before coming to San Francisco, Kaul was an intern at the Dallas Morning News, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The couple introduced themselves to Jerry Garcia at a concert in August 1971; ailing keyboardist/vocalist Ron Pigpen McKernan (who would go on to play alongside Godchaux from December 1971 to June 1972) was unable to undertake the rigors of the bands next tour. During that time, he embezzled something like $150,000 and hid it in a series of bank accounts and shell companies scattered across California. There were allegations of marital abuse as Keith's drug use increased, and they were both booted in 1979. So Keith and Jerry played, and we played him some tapes of songs that I had written and was singing on. The head Deadhead is immortal. McKernan returned to the band in late 1971 and managed to stick around through their 1972 European tour. 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. Photography By [Front Cover] - Andy Leonard (2) Vocals, Co-producer - Donna Godchaux. Meanwhile, his alcoholism increased and his doctor told him to stop touring with the Dead in 1970 to fight his addiction. Marin County, CA; Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. The decline of 1970's Grateful Dead piano player Keith Godchaux was sad but not entirely unexpected. He was replaced by Keith Godchaux from Dave Mason's band, who together with his wife Donna on vocals compensated for the tragic loss. 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.) Oct. 24: Grateful Dead: The Deads seventh album, known as Skull and Roses, includes a callout to Dead Heads. The albums sleeve included a message to fans: Dead Freaks Unite: Who are you? July 12: Together again: The Dead perform their first official Bay Area show following the hiatus at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. Although they had been with the band for some years, Keith and Donna Godcheaux had never truly fitted in. Includes Obituary, Biography, Discography, Photo, and Links. What drugs were involved and what incident ended This destructive trio began to get the better of him in the mid-'80s. The pair become known as the Rhythm Devils. The Grateful Dead's set wasn't one of them. During this same period, Godchauxs playing in the Jerry Garcia Band which had fewer instrumentalists and hence a more open sound retained more elements of his earlier work with the Grateful Dead. We had no doubt. (And though no one knew it, Pigpen was likely beyond recovery by that point anyway.) It had a quality that was magical, ethereal, spiritual, and thats part of what was so attractive about it. Finally she got him at home. So it may have been a more circuitous path between the first meeting and the rehearsal, but in Donnas memory it was about a week. Keith Godchaux was born on July 19, 1948 in San Francisco, California, USA. (Some were thrilled, others dismayed.) I didnt realize that everyone does that to him. The next two in line: "Uncle John's Band" (No. July 26: Mydland overdoses: Mydland dies of a drug overdose in Lafayette at age 37. Altogether, its a pleasant enough affair for the Geritol set. (Perhaps someone mixed up the Keystone and the rehearsal space either way, Jerry & Bill jammed with Keith before the rest of the band did.) (Not only that, it would mean they lost no time in taping rehearsals with the new guy, in fact starting immediately. Keith Godchaux was killed in a car accident on July 23, 1980, just a few days after the . 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 . Godchaux's father was a musician, and Godchaux himself showed an early interest in music and began playing at various venues in his teens. They played a total of 29 shows, and recorded two live albums Vintage Dead and Historic Dead there. The word is that the first gig was sensational, and a few days later they went into the Deads Front Street Studio. He died there at the all-too-young age of 37, according to theNew York Times. I read that she got into drugs, but what are the details of her exit? Oct. 16: Dead at the Winterland: The Dead play a five-night stand at the Winterland Ballroom. The Deads spring 72 newsletter recounted: Aug. 13: Deadheads pay respect: Garcia is celebrated by family and thousands of friends in Golden Gate Park. 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. The Grateful Dead was one of the most popular jam bands of the late 20th century. I remember when we auditioned him. This makes him the second Grateful Dead keyboard player to suffer a tragic death at an age . It was Godchaux, though, who showed up at just the right moment and grabbed the baton. Amazingly enough, the band was back to performing live by December 15, 1986, five months after he emerged from the coma. 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. It includes the live staples St. Hes an excellent pianist, but he didnt really have a concept of music, of how the piano fit in with the rest of the band. 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. 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: The animation and liveliness are through the roof! Welnick had replaced Brent Mydland, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. When I met them, I knew these were people I could trust with my head. From then on I was super turned-on that such a thing existed. The Dead even planned to play a benefit with him at the Harding Theater on September 3-4, 1971: This seems superhuman, though it means his first day with the full Dead would have been the 27th. 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. Other violence during the concert resulted in two deaths. ), In early 1972, the Dead had a little promotional flurry, releasing a few band biographies for the press & fans. He never checked out and sadly died a little over a week after his 53rd birthday while in his sleep on August 9, 1995. Like. Throughout the late 1970s, he was frequently embroiled in violent domestic scuffles with Donna, who also developed an alcohol use disorder. He began piano lessons at age five at . The couple managed to quickly bounce back. Garcia made it all the way through basic training at Fort Ord in California, but he was given the boot that December. I played with Miles Davis for about a year. Former pianist of the Grateful Dead died here on 7/26/1990. 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. 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. 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. As the band's sound took a psychedelic turn, his role was continually reduced. 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They had several other keyboard players they had been working with, who could have joined: According to Rolling Stone, Hart filled the role for around a year and a half between 1968 and 1969. Despite their reversal of fortune, Keith tragically died in a car accident on July 23, 1980. Unfortunately, Keith Godchaux was killed in a car accident in 1980, effectively scuttling the new group, though tapes of them were issued on album several years later. In 1997 she released a CD titled "Donna Jean", a positive rock album utilizing the many talented musicians of Muscle Shoals. Among other complications, the rain caused the bands electric equipment to malfunction. 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. We were exhausted. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. The 2015 Fare Thee Well tour includes shows in Santa Clara and Chicago, with with Phish singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio and keyboardist Bruce Hornsby along for the bands final ride. The last music performed by the entire band is a medley of Black Muddy River and Box of Rain.. The Grateful Dead Hotline, which provides information on concert dates and tickets, was besieged with calls by early afternoon, Leary wrote. Want to end the touring life of the Grateful Dead? an Internet message board post from the band read. To add to the strangeness of his demise, Brent's final performance on July 23rd, 1990 came 10 years to the day after the death of Keith Godchaux, the former Dead keyboardist who Mydland had. News of Mydlands death spread quickly through the close-knit Deadhead community, which follows the bands every move. 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. Guitarist Bob Weir landed in hot water with the police for tossing water balloons off the roof, but things took an uglier turn when the house was raided that October. Then the next day the Dead practiced, and by the end of that day Keith was on the payroll. 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 dont hear many wrong notes, but hes not exactly out there on the edge taking chances and pushing the others, as he frequently did, in his own quiet way, in his peak Grateful Dead years. He'd been dead for two days, according to Rolling Stone. What were the circumstances of Donna Jean Godchaux leaving The Grateful Dead? Attractive about it do a Grateful Dead keyboard player to suffer a tragic death at an age in early,. Player Keith Godchaux was killed in a car accident on July 19, in! `` mainstream success. 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