Died On This Date (August 20, 2009) Larry Knechtel / L.A. Session Musician; Bread
themusicsover Larry Knechtel
August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009
Larry Knecthel was a Los Angeles session keyboardist and bassist who played on hits by the likes of the Doors, Simon & Garfunkel and the Beach Boys. After spending a few years as part of Duane Eddy’s touring band in the early ’60s, Knechtel went to work in the studio with Phil Spector, adding his own mark to the legendary “wall of sound.” Knechtel also played on several Doors records since they didn’t have their own bassist. He joined the easy rock band, Bread in 1971. In later years, Knecthel did session work for producer Rick Rubin, most notably on albums by the Dixie Chicks and Neil Diamond. Larry Knechtel passed away in a Yakima hospital just two weeks after his 69th birthday.
Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the assist
Michael Been is best remembered as the founding singer and guitarist for American rock band, the Call. Formed in 1980, the group released a string of albums throughout the ’80s and ’90s , making them part of New Wave’s first generation which found a friend in early MTV. The band’s biggest single and video were 1983’s “The Walls Came Down. Their most successful album was 1986’s Reconciled, which included guests, Robbie Robertson, Peter Gabriel, and Jim Kerr. In recent years, Been was working with his son, Robert Levon Been as a sound man for his own popular band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. On August 19, 2010, Michael Been suffered a fatal heart attack while backstage at a BRMC concert in Belgium. He was 60.
