Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed as a member of severalhorn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums bythe Rolling Stones,[1]Lynyrd Skynyrd,Harry Nilsson,Delaney & Bonnie and Friends,George Harrison,John Lennon,Ringo Starr,Eric Clapton,Joe Cocker and other prominent musicians. Keys played on hundreds of recordings, and was a touring musician from 1956 until his death in 2014.
Bobby Keys | |
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![]() Keys performing in October 2009 | |
Background information | |
Born | (1943-12-18)December 18, 1943 Slaton, Texas, U.S. |
Died | December 2, 2014(2014-12-02) (aged 70) Franklin, Tennessee, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation | Session musician |
Instrument | Saxophone |
Years active | 1956–2014 |
Formerly of |
Early life
editBobby Keys was born atLubbock Army Airfield nearSlaton, Texas,[2][3] where his father, Bill Keys, was in the U.S. Army Air Corps. His mother, Lucy Keys, was 16 when she gave birth to Robert Henry (Bobby), her first child. By 1946, Bill Keys got a job for the Santa Fe Railroad inBelen, New Mexico. The family moved to Belen, but young Robert stayed with his grandparents inSlaton, Texas, an arrangement he was quite happy with. Bill and Lucy would have three more children, Gary and twins Debbie and Daryl.[4] Lucy Keys Brubaker went on to become astate senator in New Mexico.[5]
Career
editKeys started touring at age fifteen with fellow TexanBuddy Knox.[6][7] He reportedly played the saxophone onElvis Presley's 1962 version of "Return to Sender".[8] Keys also stated that he "befriendedBuddy Holly, playing with him briefly as a teenager. I kind of weaseled my way into the perimeter of the garage," recalled Keys. "He was the first guy I heard play electric guitar and it impressed the hell out of me."[9]
Keys met the Rolling Stones at the San Antonio Teen Fair while sharing a bill with the group as a member ofBobby Vee's band in 1964. He is best known for his impressive resume as a musician (most notably the saxophone solo on the 1971 Rolling Stones hit "Brown Sugar") and his friendship withKeith Richards.[10] They were born on the same day.[11] Notably, Keys and Richards threw a television set from the 10th floor of theContinental Hyatt House inWest Hollywood, California during the group's1972 American tour, as seen in the Stones' unreleased 1972 concert movieCocksucker Blues. After renewing his acquaintance with the band viaGram Parsons, a mutual friend, Keys made his debut with The Rolling Stones on theLet It Bleed track "Live with Me" in 1969. In addition to "Brown Sugar," he was prominently featured on such early 1970s Stones songs as "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," "Rip This Joint" and "Sweet Virginia".
Keys andMick Jagger also became close in the early 1970s, with Keys serving as best man at Jagger's wedding. Together withJim Price on trumpet, Keys toured with the Stones from 1970 to 1973. Along with trumpeterSteve Madaio and fellow saxophonistTrevor Lawrence, Keys continued as a touring member for the first half of the1973 European tour before leaving inFrankfurt, Germany on September 30. According to legend, Keys was abruptly dismissed by an incensed Jagger after filling a bathtub withDom Perignon champagne (resulting in a debt to the band that significantly exceeded his entire salary for the tour) and drinking most of it. Although Keys did not dispute the veracity of the incident, he subsequently maintained in his memoir that he left the tour of his own volition to curtail hisheroin addiction for the sake of his family. As a result of his strained relationship with Jagger, Keys only guested on some shows of the 1975 and 1978 American tours, missing the 1976 European tour completely.
Richards recalled Keys overcoming Jagger's objections to returning to the band:
Years later, the Stones were rehearsing for another tour. This was 1980-something, and I bought Bobby a ticket and said, "Just get your ass here. When we rehearse "Brown Sugar", just sneak up and do the solo, man." Once we did "Brown Sugar," Bobby hit the solo and then I looked at Mick like, "You see what I mean, Mick?" And Mick looked at me and says, "Yeah, you can't argue with that." Once he just played those few notes, there really was no question. So Mick relented and said, "Okay, let's get Bob back in the band."[12]
Keys shared saxophone duties withErnie Watts on the 1981 tour, performing on a total of 10 songs out of a 23 song set. Keys was reinstated as the band's main touring saxophonist on the 1982 European Tour, together withGene Barge. Keys played with the Stones on all subsequent tours up to his death.
Prior to touring with the Stones, Keys played withDelaney & Bonnie and Friends withEric Clapton andGeorge Harrison in 1969. In particular, during the year 1970 he gave a series of notable performances. Keys started the year working on Clapton'sfirst solo LP. WithLeon Russell, he supportedJoe Cocker on the 48-city Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour; the live albumMad Dogs & Englishmen was released later in the year, followed by a concert movie in 1971. During the tour, Cocker and the band were accompanied by a largely American entourage, including a choir, friends, wives, children, groupies and a single dog named Canina; the entire group numbered almost 40 people. After work on George Harrison'sAll Things Must Pass and moreSticky Fingers tracks, he joined the Rolling Stones for theirfall 1970 European tour.
From 1973 to 1975, Keys participated in Lennon's "Lost Weekend" in Los Angeles along withRingo Starr,Harry Nilsson andKeith Moon; while in Los Angeles, he played on Lennon's albumsWalls and Bridges (including a notable solo on the #1 American hit "Whatever Gets You thru the Night") andRock 'n' Roll. Although Keys' voice is heard on the last known recording session betweenPaul McCartney and Lennon (widely bootlegged asA Toot and a Snore in '74), he could not recall contributing to the session. He also played the solo onLeo Sayer's 1977 international soft rock hit "When I Need You" from theEndless Flight album.[13]
In 1979, Keys was part of a Rolling Stones spin-off band calledThe New Barbarians (which also includedRonnie Wood &Keith Richards) that played two concerts in Canada and eighteen shows across the United States in April and May 1979.
In 1989, Keys became the musical director for Wood's new Miami club, Woody's on the Beach. The first week the club opened Keys bookedJerry Lee Lewis,Fats Domino andthe Crickets. In the early 1990s Keys was a resident of Miami and had a band with former Stones guitaristMick Taylor,Nicky Hopkins,Ivan Neville, formerStephen Stills bassistCalvin "Fuzzy" Samuels and others called Tumbling Dice. Although better known as asession musician, Keys released two albums of his own in the 1970s: a self-titled instrumental album onWarner Bros. Records that featured Ringo Starr, George Harrison andEric Clapton in 1972;[14] andGimme the Key on Ringo Starr's record label Ring O'Records in 1975.[15]
Keys appeared on December 16, 2011, with theAthens, Georgia-based band Bloodkin in their "Exile on Lumpkin Street" show at the Georgia Theater, which re-opened in August 2011 in its remodeled and enlarged space after the building had been gutted by fire in June 2009. Besides performing some of their own music, Bloodkin performed with Keys on numerous hits from three of the biggest Stones' albums on which Keys had performed,Let It Bleed,Sticky Fingers, andExile on Main St.[16]
In 2013 he played with the Rolling Stones at theirGlastonbury Festival debut, headlining on June 29.[17] Keys played on their14 On Fire tour withRoskilde Festival in Denmark being his last gig for the Stones.
Personal life and death
editKeys was married to Holly Keys.[4] Bobby's children are Amber Keys, Huck Keys, Jesse Keys and his step-son Randy Kaune.
Keys died ofliver cancer in hospice care at his home inFranklin, Tennessee, on December 2, 2014, sixteen days before his 71st birthday.[18]
Selected discography
editAn eponymous solo album was released byWarner Bros. in 1972. He also appears on:
- The Rolling Stones:Let It Bleed,Sticky Fingers,Let It Rock EP (UK),Exile on Main St.,Goats Head Soup,Emotional Rescue,Flashpoint,Stripped,No Security,Shine a Light,Live Licks,Sweet Summer Sun
- Joe Cocker:Mad Dogs & Englishmen
- George Harrison:All Things Must Pass
- John Lennon:Some Time in New York City,Walls and Bridges,Rock 'n' Roll
- Keith Richards:Talk Is Cheap,Live at the Hollywood Palladium
- Ringo Starr:Ringo,Goodnight Vienna
- Ronnie Wood:1234,Gimme Some Neck,Mahoney's Last Stand
- B.B. King:B.B. King in London
- Audience:Lunch
- Barbra Streisand:Barbra Joan Streisand
- Carly Simon:No Secrets,Hotcakes
- Chuck Berry:Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
- Delaney, Bonnie & Friends:The Original Delaney & Bonnie & Friends,On Tour with Eric Clapton
- Donovan:Cosmic Wheels
- Dr. John:The Sun, Moon & Herbs
- Eric Clapton:Eric Clapton
- Faces:Long Player
- Harry Nilsson:Nilsson Schmilsson,Son of Schmilsson,Pussy Cats,Duit on Mon Dei
- Warren Zevon:Warren Zevon
- Humble Pie:Rock On
- Joe Ely:Lord of the Highway,LIVE Chicago 1987!
- John Hiatt:Beneath This Gruff Exterior
- John Martyn:Inside Out
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle:Kate & Anna McGarrigle
- Keith Moon:Two Sides of the Moon
- Leo Sayer:Endless Flight
- Lynyrd Skynyrd:Second Helping
- John Lennon andPaul McCartney:A Toot and a Snore in '74
- John Lennon:Whatever Gets You thru the Night
- Marvin Gaye:Let's Get It On (deluxe edition)
- Sheryl Crow:The Globe Sessions
- Yoko Ono:Fly
- Jim Carroll:Catholic Boy
- Graham Nash:Songs for Beginners
- Carl Carlton & The Songdogs:Love & Respect,Cahoots & Roots - Live From Planet Zod
References
edit- ^Huey, Steve."Biography: Bobby Keys".AllMusic. RetrievedMay 1, 2010.
- ^Varga, George (December 2, 2014)."Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys dies at 70".UT San Diego. Archived fromthe original on December 2, 2014. RetrievedDecember 2, 2014.
- ^"Bobby Keys, Longtime Saxophonist for Rolling Stones, Dies".Voice of America. Reuters. December 2, 2014. RetrievedDecember 2, 2014.
- ^ab"Bobby Keys obituary".The Guardian. December 3, 2014. RetrievedFebruary 3, 2017.
- ^"Obituary for Brubaker".Albuquerque Journal. March 14, 2000.Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. RetrievedMarch 19, 2019.
- ^"Bobby Keys Interview".Austin Chronicle. RetrievedDecember 2, 2014.
- ^"Bobby Keys Biography". Philbrodieband.com. RetrievedDecember 2, 2014.
- ^Bobby Keys: five great performances with the Rolling Stones, John Lennon and more.The Guardian. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
- ^Doyle, Patrick (December 2, 2014)."Rolling Stones Saxophonist Bobby Keys Dead at 70".Rolling Stone. RetrievedApril 9, 2024.
- ^Richards, Keith; Fox, James (2010).Life. London, UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.ISBN 978-0-297-85439-5.
- ^"Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys dies at 70— The Texas native had played with the Stones, off and on, for 45 years.", by George Varga,San Diego Union-Tribune, December 2, 2014, archived by archive.com, April 16, 2022 ("Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards posted his own tribute on Facebook, writing: 'I have lost the largest pal in the world and I can't express the sense of sadness I feel although Bobby would tell me to cheer up. My condolences to all that knew him and his love of music.' Key was born in Slaton, Texas, on December 18, 1943, the same day as Stones' guitarist Keith Richards.")
- ^Richards, Keith (December 4, 2014)."Read Keith Richards' Poignant Tribute to Bobby Keys".Rolling Stone.
- ^3 December 2014: Leo Sayer has paid tribute to his friend Bobby Keys who died at age 70. Keys, the sax player for the Rolling Stones since 1969, also played on Leo's global hit "When I Need You". In a statement Leo remembered his friend saying, "R.I.P. Bobby Keys. Bobby played the solo on "When I Need You", 20 secs of tenor sax that no other player has ever been able to emulate. We toured together in the [mid-1970s], and Bobby was always fun to work with, a great musician everybody now knows as the sax man with the Rolling Stones. I'm so proud to have known you, 'Texas'!"
- ^Johan Ramakers (December 1, 2015)."Bobby Keyes 12/2014". Rock and Roll Paradise.Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. RetrievedMarch 19, 2019.
- ^Chris Skinker (November 28, 2011)."Legendary sax player Bobby Keys to address History of Rock class Dec. 1".Vanderbilt News. Vanderbilt University.Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. RetrievedMarch 19, 2019.
- ^Joe VanHoose (December 14, 2011)."Georgia Theatre welcomes a Rolling Stone".Athens Banner-Herald Online. GateHouse Media.Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. RetrievedMarch 19, 2019.
- ^"The Rolling Stones headline Glastonbury 2013". Nme.com. June 30, 2013. RetrievedJune 30, 2013.
- ^Gold, Adam (December 2, 2014)."Rolling Stones Saxophonist Bobby Keys Dead at 70".Nashville Scene. City Press LLC. Archived fromthe original on December 8, 2014. RetrievedDecember 2, 2014.