Died On This Date (July 26, 2010) Ben Keith / Steel Guitar Legend; Played With Neil Young
themusicsover Ben Keith (Born Bennett Schaeufle)
March 6, 1937 – July 26, 2010
Ben Keith was a successful Nashville session player, producer, and singer-songwriter who is perhaps best remembered for his many collaborations with Neil Young. Keith first began making a name for himself in Nashville during the ’50s and ’60s when he played on numerous country and early rock ‘n roll hits. That list includes his steel guitar on Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces.” During the early ’70s, Keith was invited to play on Young Harvest album that went on to become the most successful album of 1971 and spawned such rock staples as “Old Man” and “Heart Of Gold,” both of which featured Keith’s playing. That was the beginning of a nearly 40-year musical partnership that found Keith playing on over a dozen Young albums and in countless concerts. Over the course of his career, Keith also collaborated with a group of some of popular music’s most beloved artists. That list includes Waylon Jennings, Jewel, Warren Zevon, Willie Nelson, the Band, Johnny Cash, and Ringo Starr. He also released a handful of his albums. Ben Keith passed away on July 26, 2010 at the age of 73. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Al Goodman was a respected baritone soul singer who was part of the ’70s hit-making group, the Moments. Formed in during the late ’70s, the Moments released their first record in 1968 and soon found themselves topping the R&B charts with tracks like “Love on a Two Way Street,” “If I Didn’t Care,” and “Look At Me (I’m In Love).” Hip Hop fans may recognize elements of “Love on a Two Way Street” throughout Jay Z’s 2009 hit, “Empire State Of Mind.” During the late ’70s, the group that also included Harry Ray and Billy Brown, rechristened themselves Ray, Goodman and Brown and delivered several more slow jam hits throughout the ’80s. Al Goodman was 63 when he passed away on July 26, 2010. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Born in Chicago, Melvin Bliss began his career in music at the age of six, first performing gospel and then moving on to jazz. In 1973, he released “Synthetic Substitution” a soul record that went on to become one of the most sampled songs in music history even though it was an obscure b-side. Below is a partial list of songs that borrowed elements from Bliss’ recording. Melvin Bliss was 75 when he passed away on July 26, 2010.
Nicknamed “The Silver Fox,” Charlie Rich was a Grammy-winning country singer who had string of hits in the early ’70s. Although his career started back in the late ’50s, it wasn’t until 1973 that he scored his two huge country and pop chart-topping hits with “Behind Closed Doors,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.” Perhaps the reason for his “late-blooming” was that the world wasn’t quite ready for his eclectic sound until someone came up with the genre, “countrypolitan,” and suddenly he fit right in. But Rich’s popularity was short-lived partly due to his erratic behavior and problems in his personal life, likely due to his excessive drinking. He floundered through the next couple of decades, trying, but never being able to get anything substantial going again. In July of 1995, Rich was traveling home from his son’s concert in Mississippi when he came down with a severe cough. After a doctor sent him on his way with antibiotics, Rich continued the drive home until he found a place for he and his wife to spend the night. Rich died in his sleep that night of what was later determined to be a blood clot in his lung. He was 62.
