Keith Allison: August 26, 1942 – November 17, 2021

Keith Allison

It is with deep sadness we announce the untimely passing of Keith Allison on the evening of November 17, 2021, at home in Sherman Oaks, California.Born Sydney Keith Allison on August 26, 1942, in Coleman, Texas, and raised in San Antonio. Keith Allison was a multi-talented songwriter, musician, singer and actor with a long list of credits.

Keith knew everyone, and everyone loved Keith.Keith Allison recorded and performed with some of the biggest names and acts such as Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr, Sonny & Cher, The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, Chuck Berry, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Monkees, Boyce & Hart, Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper, Rick Nelson, The Crickets and Johnny Rivers just to name a few. He also appeared in many movies and TV shows as an actor and musician

Keith Allison has been entertaining since the late 50’s where he was in local bands and club performances with Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown, Doug Sahm, Augie Meyer performing in the Keith Allison Combo. Moving into the 60’s Keith was Musical Director and Guitarist for Ray Peterson from 1962-1965. In 1964-65 Keith was a member of The Crickets along with his cousin drummer Jerry Allison.

Keith’s success took off when he arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-sixties. It was at a taping for Dick Clark’s “Where The Action Is” at the Whisky A-Go-Go that really put Keith on the map, when the camera panned catching him in the shot, and the audience swore Paul McCartney was at the taping. The phone rang off the hook at Dick Clark Productions, “if not McCartney, then who was that?”. Keith was invited back to be a part of “Action” becoming a permanent cast member along with friends Paul Revere & The Raiders.Keith contributed to a lot of memorable music including The Monkee’s self-title debut ‘Headquarters’, ‘Head’ and co-writing “Aunties Municipal Court” with fellow Texan Michael Nesmith on ‘The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees’. Keith played Guitar and Harmonica on Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On”. In 1967 Columbia Records signed and released the album Keith Allison ‘In Action’.

Keith Allison in The Raiders

Keith Allison (bottom left) with The Raiders

Most notable, Keith was a member of Paul Revere & The Raiders from 1968 to 1975 on bass, guitar, organ, vocals and writing credits. Keith co-wrote with Mark Lindsay “Freeborn Man”, considered one of the top bluegrass songs of all time, recorded and performed live by scores of artists. In 1971 Keith scored the film “Where Does It Hurt?” starring Peter Sellers, as well as wrote and sung the title song. In 1974 and 1975 Keith toured with Johnny Rivers on bass and guitar. In 1976, recorded “Sail Away” with Harry Nilsson and played on Nilsson album produced by Steve Cropper.

Keith Allison with Boyce & Hart

Keith Allison with Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork. Also in picture is Nigel Olsson from the Elton John Band and DJ Rodney Bingenheimer

From 1975 to 1977 Keith was on guitar and band leader for ‘Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart’ and on Capitol Records album and live album “Live In Tokyo” while touring with them in Asia in 1976.In 1977 Keith played Guitar on Ringo Starr’s “Bad Boy” followed by 1978 as musical director for Ringo Starr’s TV special “Ringo”. In 1980, Keith wrote and recorded four songs for the film “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” starring friend Dennis Quaid.

 

In the 90’s Keith went on to act in several popular television shows such as “Blossom”, “7th Heaven”, and “The Wonder Years”. In 2003 Keith played Captain James J. White in the film “Gods and Generals” starring another friend Robert Duvall.

In 2007, Keith was inducted as a member of Paul Revere & The Raiders into the Oregon MusicHall of Fame.In 2015, Keith was inducted as an Ambassador of the Buddy Holly Foundation along with Don Everly, and was presented with a replica Buddy Holiday J45 guitar presented by Jerry Allison.In 2016, at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Keith played guitar and sang with The Crickets for their final performance.

Since 2000, Keith has been a permanent guest member of the Waddy Wachtel Band.

Keith is survived by his wife Tina Stern of 40 years, Son Ryeland Allison, Daughters Allison Gonzalez (Husband Rob) and Brenda Meck (Husband Rich), Sister Cherri Hicks (Husband Don), Judith Allison & Don Reo, eight grandchildren Zephyr, Skyler, Gavin, Adrian, Madeline, Isabella, Makyla, Mercedes, and six great grandchildren.

A Celebration of Keith’s Life will be announced at a future date.

Please direct any media inquiries to:Alex Hartalexhartmanagement@yahoo.com

 

Monkees.net Interview: Micky Dolenz and Mark Lindsay Team Up For “50 Summers of Love” Tour

Monkees.net Interview: Micky Dolenz and Mark Lindsay Team Up For “50 Summers of Love” Tour

(photos courtesy dis COMPANY)

By M.A. Cassata

Whether you were part of the original 1967 “Summer of Love” time or not, the  “50 Summers of Love” tour featuring Micky Dolenz and Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders and The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute have delightfully created the music, mood and sound of the love beads and tie-dye era. The tour with all its Rat Pack appeal opened on July 14th in San Diego, CA and will end November 3rd in Kansas City, MO. (See dates below).

“I’ve always wanted to do a show more like the Rat Pack, if you will, where we all come out together and stay onstage, rather that one person doing a set and then another person doing a set,” explains  Micky, hearkening back to the early 1960s when Sinatra, Martin and Davis not only performed Las Vegas shows together, but parlayed that success onto the big screen in films like “Ocean’s 11” in 1960 and “Robin and the 7 Hoods” in 1964.”

In this  interview, Micky and Mark talk about the tour, working together, making music, their  shared memories of 1967 and more!

Q: How did the tour come together?

MD: I envisioned this tour as sort of like a Rat Pack scenario; we’ll both be onstage the whole time; I’ll sing Mark’s songs, and he’ll join in with mine.

ML: When Micky conceived this thing, he thought it would be a good idea if we did a Rat Pack kind of thing, where we’re both together onstage most of the time together.We help each other sing the songs, we put each other down and just generally goof off. It gives the audience a chance to see more of our personalities. It’s a more casual kind of thing and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Q: What is like to be working together on stage for this tour?

ML: We get on stage and we’re very conversational with each other. We don’t mind putting each other down a little bit, and just having fun.

Q: You guys have known each other a long time and  seem to share a similar comedy dynamic.

MD: Mark and I really hit it off on the comedy. He’s very, very funny and has a very clever sense of humor. It’s very similar to mine,” Dolenz says. “So when we started working together and doing things, we immediately fell into a really interesting, fun kind of chemistry. Besides the fact that he’s a great singer, we just really hit it off on the comedy end of it, which I love.

Q: Any stories you would like to share with our readers about your friendship, or chart rivalry and of course being true teen ’60s teen idols?

MD: Unlike previous nostalgic tours that I’ve been a part of, the focus of this night is the material, not who was singing the material.

Q: What can fans expect? I know the show opens with the Fab Four and then you guys come out together. Tell our readers more.

MD: The first song in the set is ‘(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone’ (1966), which, of course, the Monkees had a huge hit with, but actually the Raiders had recorded it first, so, Mark and I tell that story and then we sing ‘Steppin’ Stone’ together’.

ML: So that gives the fans a little bit of an extra sort of treat. I mean, where else are you going to see Micky Dolenz singing backgrounds to the Raiders’ tunes, or Mark Lindsay singing background to ‘Last Train to Clarksville?’ The fans want to hear the hits, let’s face it.

MD: (The list) just goes on and on, and when you have that quality of material, it’s hard to go wrong, I guess, in a way. And like I said, that was a very tumultuous time and the music and the films and television reflected it and that’s why, I think, it still stands up to this day.

Q: We heard there is a good amount of audience participation. How does that work in the show?

MD: That was a special time. I  mean, every time’s kind of a special time but there was a lot going on politically, socially in the ’60s, so the music resonated with those fans at the time and continues to do so, and I think a lot of it has to do with the songwriters.

Q: What about visuals? What can fans expect to see?

MD: There will be visuals, sort of documenting those times.

Q: After more than five decades of entertaining fans, you guys are still having fun. Is there a chance the tour will extended?

ML: I think this show could have legs. Looking at it on paper, it looks very entertaining and a lot of fun. It’s a real show, not a concert. There’s a little more in there. So who knows, maybe it has really long legs. Let’s hope so.

Q: For those young readers who do not know, please expand on  “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” being first  recorded by Paul Revere and the Raiders.

ML: They took our version of the song that we had just cut, as we had an acetate of it. They gave it to The Monkees and said, ‘Here’s a demo of a song we just wrote.’ And that’s why, if you listen to The Monkees’ version, you will hear Micky doing all the ad-libs identical to the ones I had at the end of our version. That’s why the versions are so similar; they didn’t know it was us. They thought it was Boyce and Hart on the demo. But it ended up O.K. We got the album cut, and they had the single, and we all lived happily ever after.

The “50 Summers of Love” tour dates:

Friday, July 14, 2017 Humphrey’s Concerts By the Bay, San Diego, CA

Thursday, July 27, 2017 Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, NJ

Friday, July 28, 2017 NYCB Theatre at Westbury, Westbury, NY

Friday, August 25, 2017 Riverdome at Horseshoe Bossier City, LA

Saturday, October 7, 2017 Grand Casino, Hinckley, MN

Friday, October 13, 2017 The Family Arena, Saint Charles, MO

Sunday, October 15, 2017 The Genesee Theatre, Waukegan, IL

Friday, November 3, 2017 Ameristar KC, Kansas City, MO

 

Here’s the standing set list from the tour.

The Fab Four:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help From My Friends
Strawberry Fields Forever
Got To Get You Into My Life
Sgt. Pepper’s (Reprise)
A Day in the Life

Micky Dolenz & Mark  Lindsay (With The Fab Four, Wayne Avers, and Coco Dolenz):

Steppin’ Stone
Steppin’ Out
Last Train To Clarksville
Just Like Me
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
Hungry
Mary, Mary
The Great Airplane Strike
Words
Action (TV Theme)
(Theme from) The Monkees [TV show version]
Time After Time
Randy Scouse Git
Indian Reservation
For Pete’s Sake
Him Or Me (What’s It Gonna Be?)
Pleasant Valley Sunday
Kicks
I’m a Believer

Encore:
All You Need Is Love
​Daydream Believer