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Bob Keane

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About Me

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Bob Keane was largely instrumental in the shaping of Rock 'n' Roll and the overall music industry, and the sounds created in his studios over the last 50 years are still influencing new music today.

A late-comer to the big band era, gifted clarinetist Bob Keane was deemed the youngest bandleader in 1939. At barely 17, MCA hired Keane to front his own dance band. He later went on to lead the Artie Shaw Band.

After the decline of big band, Bob found his niche in producing unique artists in various music genres, including Rock 'n' Roll, pop, surf, hot rod, Latin, blues, and rhythm & blues. He briefly headed up the Keen Label in 1957 before establishing the renowned Del-Fi Records. Under these labels, Bob Keane was the catalyst for the careers of artists such as Sam Cooke, and his top hit, You Send Me, and Ritchie Valens who topped the charts with Donna, Come on Let’s Go and the legendary Latin rock sensation, La Bamba. In 1965, Keane set up Mustang Records, which featured The Bobby Fuller Four and their memorable hit song I Fought the Law.

Over the years, Keane produced and released a long list of artists through his Del-Fi label and its subsidiaries, including Barry White, The Lively Ones, Frank Zappa, Johnny Crawford, Chan Romero, David Gates, and Ron Holden.

In the late 70's, Bob fostered the career of his two young sons, Tom and John, The Keane Brothers, who at barely 10 and 11 years old released their first album in 1977, and a second in 1979. Both his sons as well as most of the artists and musicians who began their careers in music with Bob Keane are highly respected figures in today’s music, and continue to give testament to the insights gained from the Oracle of Del-Fi.

Born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California, Bob Keane is recognized today as one of the most influential talent scouts, producers, songwriters, record label owners, sound engineers and promotional visionaries in the history of rock ‘n’ roll music. With a big band background and a unique and differentiated musical sense, Keane helped launch rock ‘n’ roll music into mainstream American popular culture.

Many of the old Del-Fi gems have been re-released on Rhino Records, and are distributed through Warner Music today.

To Order my book "The Oracle of Del-Fi," Please Visit our Website Here: DEL-FI
ALSO, CHECK OUT MY PAINTINGS IN MY PICS AREA! BEAUTIFUL,AUTOGRAPHED COLORED COPIES AVAILABLE FOR SALE FOR ONLY $25.00 EACH!CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

President Bush so I could tell him what I thought about his Presidency.

My Blog

Rare Album Release - Barry White/Danny Wagner

On Dec 4, a new album on the Del-Fi/Keane label, titled Kindred Souls, will appear in stores throughout America and some foreign countries. It is probably the most important record release of my care...
Posted by on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:39:00 GMT

RITCHIE VALENS

  MORE ABOUT RECORDING Even though I was known for my ability as a musician, I had put my ass on the line as a new record producer, too, setting up a session for the most unlikely artist of the y...
Posted by on Sun, 15 Apr 2007 16:58:00 GMT

reminiscing

  ME MYSELF AND I I was sitting at my computer today, thinking about what  I wanted to write and my mind began to wander back to the days when I was really active in the record biz....
Posted by on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:10:00 GMT

surfin'

I have had many requests to talk about our surfing bands, so I am going to digress a bit from Ritchie's story (but he'll be back) and give you a little info on our Del-fi surfing groups from the 60s. ...
Posted by on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:59:00 GMT

more about recording

On July 8th, 1958, we went into Gold Star Studios for Ritchie's first recording session. The studio was located on the corner of Santa Monica & Vine, not far from where Del-Fi later opened their o...
Posted by on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:57:00 GMT

recording

I got the idea to spend some time and follow Ritchie around with a little tape recorder, and I came up with a few of his ideas that way that we later were able to make into suitable songs. At least th...
Posted by on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:15:00 GMT

More about Ritchie

More About Ritchie     I lived at the top of the highest hill in Los Angeles on Dillon Street in the heart of hippy land. One morning, while having breakfast out on my veranda, I hear...
Posted by on Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:56:00 GMT

more on Ritchie Valens

 There have been  many stories about how I first found Ritche Valens. Here is the true story, one of the most unforgettable  experiences of my life. I shall never forget the ...
Posted by on Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:51:00 GMT

memories of early rock

To all my dear friends in Myspace ... I can't tell you how gratified I am to have so many young people as my friends. Most blogs that I have read are about current happenings in peoples' lives, but th...
Posted by on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:04:00 GMT

Ritchie Valens - Ooh My Head

Posted By:BillGet this video and more at MySpace.com
Posted by on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:18:00 GMT