Keith Gordon Green (October 21, 1953 – July 28, 1982) was an American
contemporary Christian music pianist, singer and songwriter originally from
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York.
[1]
Beyond his music, Green is best known for his strong devotion to Christian
evangelism
and challenging others to the same.
Often considered controversial for
his frequently confrontational lyrics and spoken messages, he wrote some
notable songs alone and with his wife, Melody Green, including "Your
Love Broke Through", "You Put This Love in My Heart", and "Asleep in the
Light".
Green is also known for numerous popular modern
hymns, including "O Lord, You're Beautiful" and "There Is a Redeemer", written by his wife, Melody.
| Keith Green |
|---|
 |
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Keith Gordon Green |
| Born |
October 21, 1953
Sheepshead Bay, New York, U.S. |
| Died |
July 28, 1982 (aged 28)
Garden Valley, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres |
Contemporary Christian music, rock and roll |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer, songwriter, musician, minister |
| Instruments |
Vocals, piano |
| Years active |
1965–82 |
| Labels |
Decca, Sparrow, Pretty Good |
Early life
Keith took to music at a young age, beginning with the
ukulele at age three, the guitar at five, and the piano at seven years of age.
[2]
His talents were noted by a major newspaper by the time he was only eight years old.
Following a performance of
Arthur Laurents'
The Time of the Cuckoo, a local review by the
Los Angeles Times wrote that "roguish-looking, eight-year-old Keith Green gave a winning [character] portrayal"
[3] as "the little Italian street urchin, Mauro";
[4]
another review commented that he "stole the show".
The show was Keith's
first appearance in live theater, which was held in Chatsworth,
California, in September 1962.
[2]
According to the
LA Times, Green had already "done a number of television commercials and...made a TV pilot."
[4]
At 10 years old, Green went on to play the role of "Kurt von Trapp" in a local
community theatre production of
The Sound of Music at the
Valley Music Theater in
Woodland Hills, California.
[2]
Keith Green's first disc release. The other side has the song The Way I Used To Be.
In February 1965, having written forty original songs already, Green and his father, Harvey, signed a five-year contract with
Decca Records with Harvey as business manager.
The first song released on disc was
A Go-Go Getter in May 1965 (produced by
Gary Usher),
[5]
which he had earlier composed and published before signing with Decca.
Upon publication of this song, Green, at 11 years old, became the
youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers (
ASCAP).
[2]
Decca Records planned to make Green a
teen idol, regularly getting the young pre-teen featured in fanzines like
Teen Scene and on popular television shows like
The Jack Benny Show and
The Steve Allen Show.
Keith was a guest on the television game show
I've Got a Secret
on May 3, 1965.
His secret was "I just signed a five-year contract as a
rock-'n'-roll singer." The segment included a live performance of
We'll Do a Lot of Things Together.
By the time Green was twelve, he had written ten more songs, and
Time
magazine ran a short piece about Green in an article about aspiring
young rock-'n'-roll singers, referring to him as Decca Records'
"prepubescent dreamboat".
[6]
However, after national attention envisioned by Decca Records failed to materialize for Keith,
Donny Osmond
captured the attention of pre-teens and teenagers, eclipsing Keith's
newfound stardom, and Keith was quickly forgotten by the public.
[7]
Spiritual experience
Keith had a
Jewish heritage and was raised in
Christian Science.
He grew up reading the
New Testament
and called the mixture of being Jewish and learning about Jesus "an odd
combination" that left him open minded but deeply unsatisfied.
He began
doing drugs and became interested in eastern
mysticism
and "free love."
After experiencing what Green described as a "bad
trip," he abandoned drug use and became interested in philosophy and
theology.
"When Keith was 19 he met a fellow seeker/musician named
Melody.
They were inseparable and got married a year later – now he had a
partner as his spiritual and musical quest continued."
[8]
Green later stated, however, that in the midst of his skepticism, he
had, "been lost in a fantasy, till [God's] love broke through."
[9]
and he renounced Christian Science and became a Jewish believer in
Jesus the Messiah.
A week later, Keith's wife Melody, whom he had
married in 1973 and was also Jewish, became a Jewish believer in Jesus.
It was during this time that the newlyweds became involved with the
Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Southern California.
Ministry
In 1975, the Greens, just new believers, began taking people who
needed help into their small home in the suburbs of Los Angeles, in the
San Fernando Valley.
Both Keith and Melody were staff songwriters for
CBS Records in Hollywood and used their income to support all who came.
Early on, their close friend
Randy Stonehill, who was struggling at the time, stayed for a while. Their home was later dubbed "The Greenhouse"—a place where people grew.
[10]
The Greens continued to invite guests into their home.
[11]
They eventually ran out of space and, purchasing the home next door to
their own and renting an additional five in the same neighborhood, Keith
and Melody provided an environment of Christian teaching for a group of
young adults, the majority of whom were of college age.
Much to the
consternation of neighbors, there came to be 75 people living in the
Green's homes and traipsing down the suburban streets—including
recovering drug addicts and prostitutes, bikers, the homeless, and many
single pregnant girls needing shelter and safety.
Some were referred to
the Greens by other ministries and shelters, but most just crossed their
path during their normal life at home and on the road.
In 1977 the
Greens personal outreach became a non-profit ministry they called
Last Days Ministries.
[12]
Keith Green's initial tone of ministry was largely influenced by
Leonard Ravenhill, who pointed Keith to
Charles Finney,
a nineteenth century revivalist preacher who preached the holiness of
God to provoke conviction in his hearers.
During his concerts he would
often exhort his listeners to repent and commit themselves more wholly
to following Christ.
Green later softened his approach, and this
transition is evident in his music beginning with
So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt in 1980.
He described the changes he went through in his next-to-last article for the Last Days Magazine.
[13]
Recording
Green was signed to
Contemporary Christian music label
Sparrow Records in 1976 and worked on the album
Firewind (1976) with Christian artists
2nd Chapter of Acts,
Terry and
John Michael Talbot, and
Barry McGuire.
Prior to Keith's signing with Sparrow Records and two years before the release of "No Compromise",
Tommy James (of
Tommy James and the Shondells) released "Don't Wanna Fall Away From You" on his 1976 Fantasy album titled "In Touch".
[14]
His first solo project,
For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, was released in 1977 and his second solo release,
No Compromise,
followed in 1978.
In 1979, after negotiating a release from his
contract with Sparrow, Green initiated a new policy of refusing to
charge money for concerts or albums.
Keith and Melody mortgaged their
home to privately finance Green's next album,
So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt.
The album, which featured a guest appearance by
Bob Dylan,
was offered through mail-order and at concerts for a price determined
by the purchaser.
By May 1982, Green had shipped out more than 200,000
units of his album – 61,000 for free. Subsequent albums included
The Keith Green Collection (1981) and
Songs for the Shepherd (1982).
[15][16]
When his music was carried by Christian bookstores, a second cassette
was included free of charge for every cassette purchased to give away
to a friend to help spread the
Gospel.
[citation needed]
Last Days Ministries
In 1978, Last Days Ministries (LDM) began publishing the
Last Days Newsletter.
Originally printed on a few pages of loose paper, the newsletter grew
in content to eventually become a "small, colorful magazine" and was
renamed in mid-1985 as the
Last Days Magazine.[17]
The magazine featured articles by Green and his wife Melody, as well as contemporary Christian authors
David Wilkerson,
Leonard Ravenhill, and
Winkie Pratney, all of whom lived in the area.
The publication also later included the reprinted works of classic Christian authors such as
Charles Finney,
John Wesley, and
William Booth and his wife
Catherine. Most of the articles were reprinted as
tracts.
By the mid-1980s, the Last Days Magazine was sent out to over 500,000 people worldwide.
[18]
In 1979, the ministry relocated from the
San Fernando Valley to a 40-acre (16 ha) plot of land in
Garden Valley, Texas,
[19] a crossroads community about 9 miles (14 km) west of
Lindale, Texas.
Within a few years, Last Days purchased additional land, bringing the total to 140 acres (56.7 ha).
Death in plane crash
Along with eleven others, Keith Green died on July 28, 1982, when the Robertson STOL-modified
Cessna 414
leased by Last Days Ministries crashed after takeoff from the private
airstrip located on the LDM property.
The small two-engine plane was
carrying eleven passengers and the pilot, Don Burmeister, for an aerial
tour
[19]
of the LDM property and the surrounding area.
Green and two of his
children, three-year-old Josiah and two-year-old Bethany, were on board
the plane, along with visiting church planters, John and Dede Smalley
and their six children.
Green's wife Melody was at home with
one-year-old Rebekah and six weeks pregnant with their fourth child,
Rachel, born in March 1983.
The
National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) determined that the crash was caused by the pilot in command
(PIC) allowing the aircraft to be loaded beyond its operating
limitations.
The required pre-flight weight and balance computations
would have shown it was dangerously overloaded and also outside its
weight and balance operating envelope.
Don Alan Burmeister was a former
United States Marine Corps aviator, but FAA records show he had very
limited experience / training in flying conventional (vs. centerline
thrust) twin engine aircraft.
Records show it was only a short time
prior to the accident (6/9/82) that he completed a check-ride to remove
the "centerline thrust" restriction from his pilot's certificate.
This
check-ride should have fully evaluated his ability to fly a conventional
multi-engine aircraft throughout its designed range of operations, but
the flight examiner was decertified the next month (7/10/82) by the FAA
due to a "history of incomplete or substandard check-rides".
Additionally, the insurance carrier (Ideal Mutual Insurance Co.)
required Burmeister to log 1,045 hrs of flying time, attend a Cessna
ground and flight training course, as well as log 15 hours in a Cessna
414 (C-414) prior to acting as the PIC of the leased aircraft.
The NTSB
record shows he failed to accomplish all of these requirements, with
disastrous results.
With pilot and eleven passengers, the aircraft was
overloaded by an estimated 445 pounds (202 kg), and the location of the
center of gravity was found to be 4.5 inches (110 mm) beyond the maximum
aft limit.
Combined with an air temperature of 90 °F (32 °C), creating a
condition known as "
hot and high" (high
density altitude), the C-414 could do little but struggle into the air within
ground effect,
and once airborne was left virtually uncontrollable.
These factors
prevented the aircraft from ever attaining sufficient altitude, and it
crashed into trees less than a mile from the airport.
[20][21]
Keith Gordon Green, Josiah David Green (September 18, 1978 – July 28,
1982), and Bethany Grace Green (February 5, 1980 – July 28, 1982) are
interred at Garden Valley Cemetery behind the Garden Valley Baptist
Church,
[22][23]
less than a half-mile from the LDM property.
He was survived by his
wife and two daughters, Rebekah Joy Green (b 1981); Rachel Hope Green (b
March 1983), the youngest of whom was born after Green's death.
Last Days Ministries continues
Melody Green continued to operate Last Days Ministries from Texas
until 1996, when she moved to California and launched Last Days
Ministries Online where all of Keith's writings are free and his music
can be found.
The free monthly Last Days Ministries Newsletter
[24] is also sent out by request.
Keith is honored as Melody maintains the Keith Green Facebook Page
[25] and also the Melody Green Facebook Page
[26] where she interacts with Keith's fans and Last Days Ministries fans.
Legacy
Two full albums of original Green songs were released posthumously:
The Prodigal Son (1983) and
Jesus Commands Us to Go! (1984).
Another release,
I Only Want to See You There (1983) contained mostly previously released material.
A compilation of his recorded work,
The Ministry Years, was released as a two-volume set in 1987 and 1988 and included five previously unreleased songs.
Another unreleased Christian song known to have been recorded by
Green was "Born Again," which was finally released in 1999, 17 years
after his death, on the
First Love compilation video and CD. Both feature a two-song tribute to Green by other Christian artists.
In 2008, Last Days Ministries and Sparrow Records partnered together and released
The Live Experience – Special Edition,
a CD/DVD combination of 16 live recordings and 4 hours of DVD footage
including video of live performances as well as details regarding
Green's life and his passing.
[27]
A "Greatest Hits" album was also released at the same time, including
17 of Green's most popular songs and one more previously unreleased
Christian song, "Your Love Came Over Me".
On November 23, 2009, the EP
Happy Birthday to You Jesus was released, containing a talk by Keith about Christmas and another previously unreleased song, "Happy Birthday to You Jesus".
A prolific personal journalist, Green's writings were published as excerpts in the books
A Cry in the Wilderness (Sparrow, 1993),
If You Love the Lord (Harvest House, 2000), and
Make My Life a Prayer (Harvest House, 2001).
Tribute recordings
In 1992, several artists joined together to re-record many of Green's best-known songs for a tribute album called
No Compromise: Remembering the Music of Keith Green under the Sparrow Records label.
Artists contributing to the recording include
Petra,
Charlie Peacock,
Susan Ashton,
Margaret Becker,
Michael Card,
GLAD,
Rich Mullins,
Steven Curtis Chapman,
Steve Green, and
Russ Taff.
In 2001,
BEC Records released a second tribute record
Start Right Here: Remembering the Life of Keith Green.
Produced by
Derri Daugherty, the album included performances by new contemporary Christian artists
MxPx,
Joy Electric,
Starflyer 59, among others.
At the twentieth anniversary of Keith's death, Sparrow Records released another tribute album,
Your Love Broke Through: The Worship Songs of Keith Green.
The 2002 album contains re-recordings by
Rebecca St. James,
Michelle Tumes,
Chris Tomlin,
Twila Paris,
Darlene Zschech,
Jason Upton,
Martin Smith, Charlie Hall,
Joanne Hogg,
Matt Redman, Paul Oakley, and Sarah Sadler.
The album contains contemporary Christian and mainstream artist
Michael W. Smith's version of the song
There Is One,
an unfinished work by Keith Green.
Composition of the song was
completed by Smith, along with British songwriter and Christian music
artist
Martin Smith.
Honors
On November 27, 2001, Keith Green was inducted into the
Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
On April 3, 2006, Green was honored with the ASCAP Crescendo Award at
the 28th annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards presentation dinner.
[28]
His widow, Melody Green, was present to receive the award for her late husband.
Film
In 2011 Melody Green announced that a feature film about Keith's life
was in development.
After the initial producers failed to exercise
their contract to obtain the film rights, Melody began to gather a new
production team.
As of 2013 the film is currently under development.
Source: Wikipedia.org
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