Early Life
Green took to music at a young age, beginning with the ukulele at age 3, the guitar at 5, and the piano at 7. 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" as "the little Italian street urchin, Mauro";[3] 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. According to the LA Times, Keith had already "done a number of television commercials and...made a TV pilot."
At ten years old, Green went on to play "Kurt von Trapp" in a major production of The Sound of Music at the Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills, California, part of the San Fernando Valley.
Keith Green's first disc release. The other side has the song The Way I Used To Be. At age eleven in February 1965, with 40 original songs already under his belt, Green signed a 5-year contract with Decca Records (with his father, Harvey Green [1924-1999], as business manager). The first song released on disc was "The Way I Used to Be" in May 1965 (produced by Gary Usher), which he had earlier composed and published before signing on with Decca. Upon publication of this song, Green became the youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
Decca Records planned to make Green a teen-idol, regularly getting the young pre-teenager featured in fanzines like Teen Scene and on popular television shows like The Jack Benny Show and Steve Allen's show. Time magazine called Green "a prepubescent dreamboat". His dreams of stardom were shattered, however, when Donny Osmond stole his short-lived spotlight and Green was quickly forgotten.By his mid-teens, Green became heavily involved in drug use, eastern religion, astrology, and mysticism. After experiencing a horrifying "bad trip", he abandoned drug use and also became bitter towards philosophy and theology in general. In the midst of his skepticism, as Green described it, God's love "broke through" his "calloused heart". He began on a new path "with Christ as his guru", but had many "spiritual struggles" and hardships along the way. He married Melody Steiner on Christmas day 1973, and the two became involved in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Southern California, where they were introduced to Bob Dylan.
Recording
Green was signed to Contemporary Christian music label Sparrow Records in 1976 and worked on the album Firewind (1976) with 2nd Chapter of Acts, Terry Talbot, John Talbot, and Barry McGuire. His first solo project, For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, was released in 1977. No Compromise followed in 1978.
In 1979, Green surprised many in the music industry by refusing to charge money for concerts or albums. He negotiated a release from his contract with Sparrow. The Greens then mortgaged their home to privately finance the album So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt (with a guest appearance by Bob Dylan), which was then offered through mail-order and at concerts for a price determined by the purchaser. As of 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).
Plane Crash
Green died on July 28, 1982, when a small airplane leased by Last Days Ministries crashed after taking off from a private airport in Texas referred to in the NTSB crash report as Garden Valley Airport. Green had planned to give visiting friends an aerial view of the Last Days Ministries property. Two of Green's children, three year old Josiah, and two year old Bethany, were on board the plane, as was pilot Don Burmeister, and friends John and Dede Smalley and all six of their children. All passengers were killed in the crash. Crash investigators determined that the aircraft was nearly 450 lbs. (202 kg) overweight with 12 passengers and only 7 seats.
Keith, Josiah, and Bethany Green are interred at Garden Valley Cemetery behind the Garden Valley Baptist Church, less than a half-mile from Last Days Ministries property. He was survived by his wife and two daughters, the youngest of whom was born after Green's death.
The Smalley family are interred in a cemetery in Midland, Texas.
The airplane involved was a Cessna 414
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