Posted on 12/03/2009 8:49:33 AM PST by a fool in paradise
Bob Keane, who founded the West Coast independent label Del-Fi Records in the 1950s and is best known for discovering and recording rock legend Ritchie Valens, has died. He was 87.
Keane, who survived non- Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosed when he was 80, died of renal failure Saturday in an assisted living home in Hollywood, said his son, Tom Keane.
"He was like the original independent record man in those days," said Tom Keane, a songwriter and record producer. "He was the guy going out and finding talent and developing it and getting it out to the masses."
A clarinet player who once led his own 18-piece orchestra, Keane briefly headed Keen Records in 1957 and released Sam Cooke's No. 1 hit single "You Send Me" before launching Del-Fi Records.
In May 1958, Keane heard about Valens, a 17-year-old Mexican American singer and guitar player from Pacoima...
Keane, who was played by Joe Pantoliano in "La Bamba," the 1987 film biography of Valens, went on to record artists including Little Caesar and the Romans, Brenda Holloway, Johnny Crawford, Frank Zappa, Barry White, and surf bands including the Impacts, the Sentinels, Bruce Johnston's Surfing Band, the Lively Ones and Dave Myers & the Surftones.
Keane also had success in the '60s with the Bobby Fuller Four, which recorded "I Fought the Law" and other songs for Keane's Mustang Records...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Some real classics right there. RIP.
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