Brent Mydland | |
|---|---|
 Brent Mydland in 1987 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1952-10-21)October 21, 1952[1] Munich, West Germany |
| Origin | Concord, California, U.S. |
| Died | July 26, 1990(1990-07-26) (aged 37)[2] Lafayette, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Keyboards, vocals |
| Years active | 1971–1990 |
| Labels | Warner Bros. Arista |
Brent Mydland (October 21, 1952 – July 26, 1990) was an American keyboardist, songwriter and singer. He was a member of the rock band theGrateful Dead from 1979 until his death in 1990, a longer tenure than any other keyboardist in the band.
Growing up inConcord, California, Mydland took up music while in elementary school.[3] After graduation, he played with a number of bands and recorded one album withSilver before joiningBobby and the Midnites withBob Weir and jazz veteransBilly Cobham andAlphonso Johnson. This led to an invitation to join the Dead in 1979, replacingKeith Godchaux who had decided to leave. Mydland quickly became an important member in the Dead, using a variety of keyboards includingHammond organ and varioussynthesizers and singing regularly. He wrote several songs on the band's studio albums released while he was a member.
After a tour in the early summer 1990, Mydland died of an accidental drug overdose.
Born inMunich, Germany, the child of a Norwegian U.S. Army chaplain, Mydland moved to San Francisco with his parents at the age of one. Mydland spent most of his childhood inConcord, California.[4] He started piano lessons at age six and had formal classical lessons through his junior year in high school. In an interview he commented that "My sister took lessons and it looked fun to me, so I did too. There was always a piano around the house and I wanted to play it. When I couldn't play it I would beat on it anyway." His mother, a graveyard shift nurse, encouraged Mydland's talents by insisting that he practice his music two hours each day. He played trumpet from elementary till his senior year in high school; his schoolmates remember him practicing on an accordion, as well as the piano, every day after school.[citation needed]
Mydland played trumpet in the school's marching band, but was dismissed for having long hair. He graduated fromLiberty High School,Brentwood, California, in 1971.[citation needed]
Mydland began playing rock'n'roll with friends in high school (Liberty High School), and was influenced by organists such asLee Michaels,Ray Manzarek andSteppenwolf'sGoldy McJohn.[citation needed] He became a fan of the Grateful Dead in the late 1960s, though was less impressed by their 1970s material.[5]
After graduation, Mydland lived in aquonset hut inThousand Oaks, California, writing songs. He joined a band with Rick Carlos, who was invited byJohn Batdorf ofBatdorf & Rodney to join their band.[citation needed] Mydland was asked to join shortly after. He then formed the bandSilver with Batdorf, releasing one album onArista Records.[6]
Mydland then got in touch withBob Weir via a connection from Batdorf & Rodney, and joined Weir's side projectBobby and the Midnites as keyboardist and backing vocalist.[5]
Mydland joined the Grateful Dead in April 1979, replacingKeith andDonna Godchaux, who had decided to start their own band.[5] After two weeks of rehearsals, he played his first concert with the band at theSpartan Stadium,San Jose, on April 22.[5]
Mydland quickly became an integral part of the Dead owing to his vocal and songwriting skills as much as his keyboard playing. He quickly combined his tenor singing with founding members Weir andJerry Garcia to provide strong three-part harmonies on live favorites.[7] He easily fit into the band's sound and added his own contributions, such as inGo to Heaven (1980) which featured two of Mydland's songs, "Far From Me" and "Easy to Love You", the latter written with frequent Weir collaboratorJohn Perry Barlow. On the next album,In the Dark (1987), Mydland co-wrote "Hell in a Bucket" with Weir and Barlow; he also penned the train song "Tons of Steel".
Built to Last (1989) featured several more of Mydland's songs: the moody "Just a Little Light", the environmental song "We Can Run", the live-performance-driven "Blow Away" and the poignant "I Will Take You Home", alullaby written with Barlow for Mydland's two daughters.
Mydland wrote several other songs that were played live but not released on any studio albums, including "Don't Need Love", "Never Trust A Woman", "Maybe You Know", "Only a Fool", all written solo, and "Gentlemen Start Your Engines", with Barlow. Many of these were intended for a solo album that was started but never completed, along with "Love Doesn't Have to be Pretty", performed live solo, but not with the Grateful Dead.[8] He also co-wrote "Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues" withPhil Lesh and Lesh's lyrical collaborator Bobby Petersen, although the song was performed live only once.
His high, gravelly vocal harmonies and emotional leads added to the band's singing strength, and he even occasionally incorporatedscat singing into his solos.Monty Byrom, guitarist on Mydland's unreleased solo album, said Mydland was "one of the most talented guys I've ever met. I've never seen anybody that could sing with those kind of notes, night after night. He was a cross betweenGregg Allman andHowlin' Wolf. It was crazy." Mydland's vocals added color to old favorites such as "Cassidy", "Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo", "Ramble on Rose", the Band's "The Weight", and he even wrote his own verse forWillie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster". He sang lead on many covers, includingTraffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy", theBeatles' "Hey Jude",the Meters' "Hey Pocky Way", and, with Lesh, the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'". Mydland's instrumental interactions with Garcia became an increasingly prominent factor in the Dead's music over the years—their duo exchanges in "Friend of the Devil" were an early and lasting example.
Mydland's last show with the Grateful Dead was on July 23, 1990, at theWorld Music Theater, inTinley Park, Illinois.
In 1994, he was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.[9]
While Keith Godchaux had preferred to play only piano at concerts, Mydland was keen to experiment with different electronic keyboards and synthesizers and frequently changed his setup to add new sounds. He played several different electric pianos and synthesizers throughout his tenure. Upon joining the band in 1979, his piano sounds came from aFender Rhodes. In 1982, he switched to aYamaha CP-70 electric grand, though he only used it for about one year. During this time he also used analog synthesizers including aMinimoog, and aSequential Circuits Prophet-5. In 1983, he replaced his analog synthesizers and electric piano with a Yamaha GS-1 digital piano.[10] The GS-1 is an extremely rare synthesizer, with only about 100 ever produced. In the mid-eighties, he also added anE-mu Emulator II to his rig.
In mid 1987, Mydland's synthesizer setup changed once again.Bob Bralove had been hired by the Grateful Dead to program and maintain new MIDI systems. The GS-1 and Emulator II were replaced by a newKurzweil MIDIboard MIDI controller, which gave Mydland the ability to use voices from an array of different synthesizer modules, and blend them together using volume pedals and foot switches. The MIDIboard, like the GS-1 it replaced, was capable of polyphonic aftertouch, a relatively rare feature in MIDI controllers. The synthesizer racks included aRoland MKS-20 digital piano, a Kurzweil 250RMX (the rack-mounted version of the famousKurzweil K250 synthesizer), a Roland S550 sampler, anOberheim Matrix 1000, a Lexicon PCM41 digital delay, a Lexicon PCM70 reverb/effects processor, and an Akai MPX820 mixing board.ARoland D-50 keyboard was added in the fall of 1987, and aKorg M1 keyboard was added in the fall of 1989 after experimenting with the M1R module version on the 1989 summer tour. These keyboards could be controlled through the MIDIboard, or could be played independently.
Mydland also regularly played theHammond organ, and had a B-3 with ten modifiedLeslie speakers in his setup for his entire tenure. The Grateful Dead purchased three B-3 organs for his use when he joined the band, and he personally owned several B-3 organs at the time of his death. The B-3 he played for the majority of his tenure with the Grateful Dead, known for once being covered with stickers, is currently used by keyboardistJeff Chimenti during live performances. It was present at the 50th anniversaryFare Thee Well concerts in July 2015.
In 1982, he recorded and mastered a solo studio album, but it was never released.
In the summer of 1985, he performed with Dead drummerBill Kreutzmann in their band Kokomo along with 707's Kevin Russell and Santana's David Margen.
In 1985, he performed at the Haight Street Fair with Weir,John Cipollina, andMerl Saunders, among others.
In 1986, Mydland formedGo Ahead with several San Francisco Bay area musicians, includingBill Kreutzmann, also former Santana membersAlex Ligertwood on vocals and David Margen on bass, as well as guitarist Jerry Cortez. The band toured during the timeJerry Garcia was recovering from a diabetic coma, and also briefly reunited in 1988.
In 1988, Mydland performed at the Bay Area Music Awards, sharing an organ with Merl Saunders and performing alongsideJerry Garcia,Bob Weir,John Fogerty, and others.
He also did numerous solo projects and performances, as well as duo performances with Bob Weir numerous times throughout the 1980s, with Weir on acoustic guitar and Mydland on grand piano.
Brent Mydland died at his home inLafayette, California, on July 26, 1990, shortly after completing the Grateful Dead's summer tour. An autopsy conducted by the Contra Costa Coroner's office revealed that Mydland had died of acute cocaine and morphine intoxication. Richard Rainey, Contra Costa County coroner, stated that "Toxicology tests reveal lethal levels of morphine and cocaine in the blood", a mixture "commonly referred to as a 'speedball'."[11] He was the third Dead keyboardist to die (after founding memberRon "Pigpen" McKernan in 1973 andKeith Godchaux in 1980); Garcia said Mydland's death was "crushing" and it abruptly closed a chapter of the band's career.[12]
Mydland is buried atOakmont Memorial Park in Lafayette, California.
Weir has said that the late '80s and early '90s with Mydland was his favorite time playing in the band.[13]
David Gans has described Mydland as "a talented synthesist [sic], who was able to play all this beautiful synthesized string stuff, but he could still kick ass and take names on the Hammond organ."
Mydland's younger daughter, Jennifer Mydland, is an aspiring singer-songwriter.[14]
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