How are you? 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. 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. 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. A year after she and Keith left the band, in 1980, the couple formed The Heart of Gold Band. After 50 years, Grateful Dead are summers hottest ticket, circa 1965: American psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead poses on Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, California, 1960s. She and Keith fared much better during the band's studio sessions. It was Godchaux, though, who showed up at just the right moment and grabbed the baton. Donna Jean and Keith Godchaux were in the Dead until 1979, and Keith died in 1980 following a car accident. A couple of days later I was playing with him and Bill, and it just sort of came together.. 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: . As theNew York Times explained, his struggles to lose weight and finally quit smoking continued in the years that followed. Marin County, CA; Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. Tragically, Keith Godchaux was a passenger in an automobile accident on July 21, 1980 forty years ago today and died two days later. Favourite eras are always going to vary with Deadheads. All were placed on probation for a year. The sold-out show was in such high demand that it was broadcast on KSAN-FM. Some came in their 20th century teepees, old school buses, caravans and VW buses, and lined the embankment, overlooking the field. Keith: It had to happen. Relearning all his old songs and solos definitely took some time, but one of his longtime collaborators, keyboardist Merl Saunders, was willing to step in and coach him. Concert in Golden Gate Park with Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship 9/28/1975 They can be heard onEurope '72,Wake of the Flood, and Terrapin Station, three of their most popular '70s albums. Amazingly enough, the band was back to performing live by December 15, 1986, five months after he emerged from the coma. Those arrested include Owsley Stanley (who identifies himself to police as the King of Acid), Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. Oct. 19: Keith on the keys: Keith Godchaux plays his first show with the Dead as keyboardist. : . Their devoted legions of "Deadhead" fans kept them on the road for decades, and countless T-shirts, stickers, posters, and other ephemera made the band widely successful from a financial standpoint. 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." Then his health took a turn for the worse. The Deads music is absolutely 100% positive influence. The Grateful Dead had a fair number of run-ins with the law back in the '60s and '70s. But their time with the band took a nasty turn toward the end of the decade. Learn our music. The irony was that Donna Jean doubts mightily Keith ever bothered to listen to them hed never listened to the Dead all that much before he auditioned In any case, he left the tapes on his parents houseboat in Alameda, and there they stayed. "The Warlocks," who would later rename their band "The Grateful Dead," perform a show in 1965. Keith Godchaux was born on July 19, 1948 in San Francisco, California, USA. Perhaps the Dead did not bother recording more improvisational jams. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in journalism and political science. 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. Want to end the touring life of the Grateful Dead? an Internet message board post from the band read. The following Sunday the Dead were having a rehearsal and Jerry told us to come on down, so we did. The Lionel Hampton Band. How much is Jerry Garcia worth now? According to Time, many tickets, initially priced between a fairly reasonable $60 and $200, were quickly snatched up by scalpers. 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 sports car he was riding in struck a parked car. 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. Pollock was forced to swerve to avoid a group of children who were playing. (Note that on some tracks Keith can hardly be heard, being too low in the mix.) So every opportunity, every rumor that we heard that they might be playing, there we were Wed all go see the Dead together, or at the very least get together and listen to Dead records. A bitter ending to a life that looked like it was just about to turn around, Keith Godchaux will never be forgotten in the hearts and minds of Deadheads, whether they liked him . A four-block stretch of fabled Haight Street yesterday was voluntarily surrendered to thousands of hippies and hippie-watchers. Jan. 19: Hall of Famers: The Grateful Dead are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the institutions ninth annual induction dinner. (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. Aidin Vaziri is a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle. April 13: 20 years Dead: The Dead marks its 20-year anniversary with a three-night run at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. Keith and Donna Godchaux issued the mostly self-written Keith & Donna album in 1975 with Jerry Garcia as a member of their band. Pigpen was extremely ill, and unable to travel. 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. The pair become known as the Rhythm Devils. One wonders, though. In 1970, Keith Godchauxmarried Donna Jean Thatcher,a session vocalist. Years later, though, the injury allegedly improved his ability to play the guitar and he often showed off the damaged digit to his fans as a sort of salute. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF. Thursday, Sept 16 He had a side gig as a preacher and often insisted that people call him "reverend." Eventually, he and Donna left the band in 1979. They lived in a boarding house in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district during the fabled Summer of Love in 1967, as drummer Bill Kreutzmann recalled in a 2015 article for theSan Francisco Chronicle. Donna Jean and Keith Godchaux were in the Dead until 1979, and Keith died in 1980 following a car accident. Brent Mydland occupied the role for the next eleven years, until he died of a drug overdose. In later interviews, he sounds like he preferred the independence & freedom to work on his own projects. Not exactly a choir of angels, but some incredibly holy, pure and beautiful spiritual light. Despite their reversal of fortune, Keith tragically died in a car accident on July 23, 1980. Until he met Donna, who turned him on to rock & roll. Keith in happier times. We wanted to write music to the Lord, because it didnt seem like there was much out there that was spiritual. Tuesday, Aug 31 According to a Rolling Stone clipping from the Grateful Dead's official archives, he was found "baptizing Jesus freaks" in San Diego. http://archive.org/details/gd71-09-29.sbd.cousinit.16891.sbeok.shnf Keith mostly on organ With Saunders' help, Garcia slowly but steadily recovered. http://www.blairjackson.com/chapter_twelve_additions.htm News of Mydlands death spread quickly through the close-knit Deadhead community, which follows the bands every move. 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 . After ongoing battles with his various addictions, Garcia checked into Serenity Knolls, a drug treatment facility in Forest Knolls, California. Keith Godchaux: Age 32 | Cause Of Death: CAR CRASH Grateful Dead (b. The couple began bickering heavily as lots of touring and drug use took their toll. Recordings of the set reveal long breaks between the band's songs, lots of drug-fueled banter, and overall confusion that led to a sloppy, 50-minute performance of a single song. Keith Richard Godchaux. December: Grateful Dead born: The band changes its name after learning of another group called Warlocks. We went home, looked in the paper and saw that Garcias band was playing at the Keystone, so we went down, of course. He had a heart of music. On this date in 1980, former keyboardist Keith Godchaux tragically died in a car accident just days after his 32nd birthday. Nov. 10: Live/Dead out: Live/Dead, the first of many live albums by the Grateful Dead, is released. 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. Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948-July 23, 1980) . Keith was 32 years old at the time of death. The band's iconic lightning bolt skull logo and multicolored dancing bears have forever entrenched themselves in rock history and countless dorm room walls. 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. Welnick had replaced Brent Mydland, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. July 9: Last call: The Grateful Dead perform their 2,314th and final concert at Soldier Field in Chicago. 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. It didn't pan out. He is the fourth Grateful Dead keyboardist to die. Keith Godchaux was killed in a car accident on July 23, 1980, just a few days after the . Box 1065, San Rafael, California, 94901. It was the beginning of perhaps the best-known fan club in music history. Or perhaps the Dead initially saw Keith as a temporary stand-in, a Hornsby-like figure until Pigpen could be eased back in. Like. Donna: I had a dream that it was supposed to happen. He died on July 22, 1980 in Marin County, California, USA. They had several other keyboard players they had been working with, who could have joined: He would not be alone. 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. Just a little over a year after leaving, Keith died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Our tapes come from several days theyre cassette copies with variable mixes and shifty sound quality. That guy had it all, he could play anything Its like he came forth fully grown. Dec. 31: Working for the man: Grateful Dead signs with Warner Bros. Records. Keith Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Concord, California. Send us your name and address, and well keep you informed. I went to a concert with them and saw something I didnt know could be really happening It was not like a mind-blowing far out, just beautiful far out. We just danced right along on top. 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