Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Nilsson, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, George Harrison,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

, Ringo Starr,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, Joe Cocker and other prominent musicians. Keys played on hundreds of recordings, and was a touring musician from 1956 until his death in 2014.

Early life

Bobby Keys was born at Lubbock Army Airfield near Slaton, Texas, 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 in Belen, New Mexico. The family moved to Belen, but young Robert stayed with his grandparents in Slaton, Texas, an arrangement he was quite happy with. Bill and Lucy would have three more children, Gary and twins Debbie and Daryl. Lucy Keys Brubaker went on to become a state senator in New Mexico.

Career

Keys started touring at age fifteen with fellow Texan Buddy Knox. He reportedly played the saxophone on

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's 1962 version of "Return to Sender". Keys also stated that he "befriended Buddy 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." Keys met the Rolling Stones at the San Antonio Teen Fair while sharing a bill with the group as a member of Bobby 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 Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

") and his friendship with Keith Richards. They were born on the same day. Notably, Keys and Richards threw a television set from the 10th floor of the Continental Hyatt House in West Hollywood, California during the group's 1972 American tour, as seen in the Stones' unreleased 1972 concert movie '' Cocksucker Blues''. After renewing his acquaintance with the band via Gram Parsons, a mutual friend, Keys made his debut with The Rolling Stones on the '' Let 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 and Mick Jagger also became close in the early 1970s, with Keys serving as best man at Jagger's wedding. Together with Jim Price on trumpet, Keys toured with the Stones from 1970 to 1973. Along with trumpeter Steve Madaio and fellow saxophonist Trevor Lawrence, Keys continued as a touring member for the first half of the 1973 European tour before leaving in Frankfurt, Germany on September 30. According to legend, Keys was abruptly dismissed by an incensed Jagger after filling a bathtub with Dom 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 his

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

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: Keys shared saxophone duties with Ernie 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 with Gene Barge. Keys played with the Stones on all subsequent tours up to his death. Prior to touring with the Stones, Keys played with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends with

and George Harrison in 1969. In particular, during the year 1970 he gave a series of notable performances. Keys started the year working on Clapton's first solo LP. With Leon Russell, he supported Joe Cocker on the 48-city Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour; the live album '' Mad 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's '' All Things Must Pass'' and more ''Sticky Fingers'' tracks, he joined the Rolling Stones for their fall 1970 European tour. From 1973 to 1975, Keys participated in Lennon's "Lost Weekend" in Los Angeles along with Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon; while in Los Angeles, he played on Lennon's albums '' Walls and Bridges'' (including a notable solo on the #1 American hit " Whatever Gets You thru the Night") and ''

Rock 'n' Roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

''. Although Keys' voice is heard on the last known recording session between

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

and Lennon (widely bootlegged as '' A Toot and a Snore in '74''), he could not recall contributing to the session. He also played the solo on

Leo Sayer Leo Sayer (born Gerard Hugh Sayer, 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter who has been active since the early 1970s. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009. Sayer launched his career in the United Kingd ...

's 1977 international soft rock hit " When I Need You" from the '' Endless Flight'' album. In 1979, Keys was part of a Rolling Stones spin-off band called The New Barbarians (which also included Ronnie 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 booked

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

, Fats Domino and the Crickets. In the early 1990s Keys was a resident of Miami and had a band with former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Nicky Hopkins, Ivan Neville, former Stephen Stills bassist Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels and others called Tumbling Dice. Although better known as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

, Keys released two albums of his own in the 1970s: a self-titled instrumental album on Warner Bros. Records that featured Ringo Starr, George Harrison and

in 1972; and ''Gimme the Key'' on Ringo Starr's record label Ring O'Records in 1975. Keys appeared on December 16, 2011, with the

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

-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'', and '' Exile on Main St.'' In 2013 he played with the Rolling Stones at their

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

debut, headlining on June 29. Keys played on their 14 On Fire tour with

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

Festival in Denmark being his last gig for the Stones.

Personal life and death

Keys was married to Holly Keys. Bobby's children are Amber Keys, Huck Keys, Jesse Keys and his step-son Randy Kaune. Keys died of liver cancer in hospice care at his home in

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

, on December 2, 2014, sixteen days before his 71st birthday.

Selected discography

An eponymous solo album was released by Warner 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'' *

: '' Some Time in New York City'', '' Walls and Bridges'', ''

'' * 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 An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

: '' Lunch'' *

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

: '' Barbra Joan Streisand'' *

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

: '' No Secrets'', '' Hotcakes'' *

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

: '' 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'' *

: ''

'' * Faces: '' Long Player'' * Harry Nilsson: '' Nilsson Schmilsson'', '' Son of Schmilsson'', '' Pussy Cats'', '' Duit on Mon Dei'' * Warren Zevon: '' Warren Zevon'' *

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English Rock music, rock band formed by Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first Supergroup (music), supergroups of the late 1960s and enjoyed success in the early 1970s ...

: '' 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'' *

: '' Endless Flight'' * Lynyrd Skynyrd: '' Second Helping'' *

and

: '' A Toot and a Snore in '74'' *

: '' Whatever Gets You thru the Night'' *

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

: '' Let's Get It On'' (deluxe edition) *

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

: '' The Globe Sessions'' *

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

: '' Fly'' * Jim Carroll: '' Catholic Boy'' * Graham Nash: '' Songs for Beginners'' * Carl Carlton & The Songdogs: ''Love & Respect'', ''Cahoots & Roots - Live From Planet Zod''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keys, Bobby 1943 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American musicians American rock saxophonists American male saxophonists American session musicians Delaney & Bonnie & Friends members Musicians from Texas People from Slaton, Texas Plastic Ono Band members Deaths from cirrhosis Alcohol-related deaths in Tennessee Deaths from liver cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in Tennessee Lubbock High School alumni The Rolling Stones