Keith Gatwick

Keith Franklin Gatwick was a British singer songwriter and musician. His career spanned a little over a decade and he became very successful in the late 70s.

## Early Life and Childhood

Keith was born in May 1952 to Marie and Frank Gatwick. He had an older brother named Russel (Russ) Gatwick and Keith was nicknamed Frankie from an early age. Frankie fell in love with music as a young child and began playing guitar and singing by age 9, and would master both skills by 14. He was a very rebellious child, even landing in juvie for assaulting a classmate in high school. He was expelled from school at 16 due to discipline and poor grades and he never went and got his high school diploma. Frankies parents alienated him and shamed him for this. His parents sent Frankie off to a boarding school in America, but Frankie was kicked out of that too. He ended up in New York by the end of 1969, and got to work on his first album.

## First recordings, *Golden People,* and moderate success

In December 1969 he booked time in a studio and recorded songs he had wrote throughout his life. They were polished and put on a folk album titled *Golden People*. Upon its release in June 1970, it was moderately successful. It did give Frankie now going by Keith) an opportunity for his first tour. He toured the East Coast of the US and played many clubs in New York City. He started recording a second Folk album in late 1971 titled *Sedona Sunrise*. Upon this albums release in 1971, it was less successful than the previous.

## *Mid to late 70s success, Old Eagles Still Scream, and White Buffalo*

Keith began to build up a reputation throughout the following years with two other releases in '73 and '75 that focused less on folk and more on hard rock. He hit it big with the 1977 album *Old Eagles Still Scream ,* which launched him to stardom. He toured Europe, Asia, and America in 1978 and became a sensation. However he had began to develop an addiction to heroin and alcohol, landing him in rehab. The rehab did not work, however. He finished his tour in April 1979 and for the next few months would begin on his next album, *White Buffalo*. which went gold on release.

## Touring and concerts, final recordings

Keith did several international tours and concerts during 1980 and 1981. His addictions had spiraled out of control with a close call with a drunk driving arrest and making it hard to record new material. in 1982 Old Eagles Still Scream went platinum. Keith decided to rerecord the album live, and this release went gold on release like the prior albums.

## Personal Relationships

In 1975, Keith met Elyse Richardson at a concert. The two married in 1976 and divorced in 1981. Keith never talked to his parents after he left for America, however he and his brother did reconnect at some point during the late 70s. Keith became good friends with music producer Brian Zhang and the two worked together on 3 of Keith's albums.

## Death and aftermath

On July 4th, 1983, Keith was at a circus in Paris celebrating the 4th of July. Many people were among this party, including Keith's recently divorced ex wife Elyse. Elyse was now dating a man named Rick Klein. Elyse and Keith fought at the circus, but they reportedly began making out and and she was cheating on Rick with Keith. Rick did not take this well and engaged in a fight with Keith. Both of them sustained injuries, but Keith was punched multiple times hard in the appendix and his chest. Keith fled the circus at around 1 am on July 5th, 1983 and went back to his Paris hotel. A few hours later at around 5 am he was found dead in his room by Brian Zhang, who had gone to check on him. The autopsy revealed his appendix had burst due to the injuries from the fight.

During the months after Keith's death, Rick Klein committed suicide at his home to evade the consequences. Elyse Richardson would also die of a drug overdose a few years later in 1987. After Keith's death, Brian Zhang mixed his recordings from right before his death and released them on his last album, *In The End*, which came out in January 1984, which was around 6 months after his death. This album is considered his best and sold the most out of his discography. During Keith's final hours, he continued adding tweaks to the album concept which made it on to the final cut.

In 1989, the 1973 release, *Pilot,* went gold. *Supper* also went gold in 1991.

## Pilot

### Producer

Brian Zhang

Golden People (1970)

Sedona Sunrise (1972)

Pilot (1973)

Supper (1975)

Old Eagles Still Scream (1977)

White Buffalo (1979)

## Old Eagles Still Scream

### Producer

Timothy Sterling

Old Eagles Still Scream (Live 1982)

In The End (1984)

The Best of Keith Gatwick (posthumous release in 1994)

## Legacy

Keith was mourned by many people, including his family, strangely. Several musicians like Henry Skelton and Brian Zhang made tribute songs/albums to Keith. In 1994, 11 years after Keith's death, a compilation album was put together. This album's sales exceeded *Old Eagles Still Scream*.

## White Buffalo

### Producer

Brian Zhang

While Keith and Richardson never had children while they were married, Richardson mothered another child with a different man after the divorce. She also had a 2nd child in 1983 to which the father is unknown. It is rumored that Gatwick and Richardson got back together for a short period, and Gatwick got her pregnant. This was never confirmed.