James Barry Keefer (born May 17, 1949), better known by his stage name Keith, is an American vocalist. His best known song was " 98.6" which reached No. 7 on ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1966. He legally changed his name to Bazza Keefer in 1988, in memory of his mother.

Early life

James Barry Keefer was born on May 17, 1949 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States.

Career

Early days

Keefer earned his first

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. When Jerry Ross moved across to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

he took Keefer with him, and the singer soon appeared in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

, with his 1966 solo single, "Ain't Gonna Lie".

Chart success

He is best remembered for his

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

" 98.6"; the recording was issued on the

label, and reached No. 24 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1967. It was considerably better received in his homeland – the single reached No. 7, and remained for 14 weeks in the bestsellers in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold over one million copies worldwide, earning a gold disc. The

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

was written by

Tony Powers Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

(

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

) and George Fischoff (

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

by Joe Renzetti, and was produced by Jerry Ross. Its title relates to the

normal human body temperature Normal human body-temperature (normothermia, euthermia) is the typical temperature range found in humans. The normal human body temperature range is typically stated as . Human body temperature varies. It depends on sex, age, time of day, exert ...

in degrees Fahrenheit.
His debut album, ''98.6/Ain't Gonna Lie'', was also issued on the Mercury label.

Later days

His 1968 second Mercury LP, ''Out of Crank'', failed to sell well. The low point in Keefer's life came when

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

officials arrested him for

draft evasion Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft e ...

during a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

. "I was making coffee for

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," said Keefer. When he got out, Keith did some independent recording and joined

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

's 1974 touring band. "I think they brought me in to commercialize Frank," Keefer said. Contrary to popular belief, he never sang in Zappa's band. Soon afterward, he recorded three singles for Zappa's

DiscReet Records DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. The name of the label was a pun derived from disc and the Compatible Discrete 4 process of encoding ...

label. Keefer recorded one last album in 1969, ''The Adventures of Keith'', for

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

. It did not sell well, and he then left the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

until 1986, when an attempted comeback under his real name proved unsuccessful. He set up A.I.R. Records in 1986 in Redondo Beach, California, and produced albums for several local musicians. These included the singer-songwriter Chuck Hill, and Keith's drummer Shawn Smith, who were both from

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado. In the 1990s, the singer moved into the

television industry Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, although he continues to play live dates.

Discography

Singles

Keith and the Admirations Keith

Albums

References

External links

Official Keith website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith 1949 births Living people American male singers Mercury Records artists Musicians from Philadelphia RCA Records artists Singers from Pennsylvania