View source for Keith Knudsen

{{short description|American musician (1948–2005)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Keith Knudsen
| image             = Keith Knudsen.JPG
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Knudsen as part of the [[Doobie Brothers]] in 1974
| background        = solo_singer
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1948|2|18}}
| birth_place       = [[Le Mars, Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2005|02|08|1948|2|18}}
| death_place       = [[Kentfield, California]], U.S.
| genre             = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[Country rock]], [[Southern rock]]
| occupation        = [[Musician]], [[songwriter]]
| instrument        = [[drum kit|Drums]], [[Singing|vocals]]
| years_active      = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) -->
| label             = 
| associated_acts   = {{Unbulleted list|[[The Doobie Brothers]]|[[Southern Pacific (band)|Southern Pacific]]}}
}}

'''Keith A. Knudsen''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|n|uː|d|s|ə|n}} {{Respell|kə|NOOD|sən}}; February 18, 1948 – February 8, 2005) was an American [[rock music|rock]] [[drummer]], [[singing|vocalist]], and [[songwriter]]. Knudsen was best known as a drummer and vocalist for [[The Doobie Brothers]]. In addition, he founded the band [[Southern Pacific (band)|Southern Pacific]] with fellow Doobie Brother [[John McFee]]. He was posthumously  inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] as a member of The Doobie Brothers in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Doobie Brothers {{!}} Rock & Roll Hall of Fame |url=https://www.rockhall.com/doobie-brothers |website=www.rockhall.com |access-date=15 January 2020}}</ref>

==Biography==
Knudsen was born in Le Mars, Iowa. He began drumming while attending [[Princeton High School (Illinois)|Princeton High School]] in Princeton, Illinois, where he graduated in 1966. After short stints playing in a club band and the Blind Joe Mendlebaum Blues Band, he became the drummer for [[organist]]/vocalist [[Lee Michaels]]. He played in The Hoodoo Rhythm Devils from late 1972 through mid 1973. He never participated in any formal studio recording with them, but recorded a live Texas Special on KSAN-FM in San Francisco with the Hoodoos and Johnny Winter. His big break came in 1974 when he was invited to join [[The Doobie Brothers]], replacing the departing [[Michael Hossack]]. Knudsen joined the band during the recording of the 1974 Top 10 platinum album, ''[[What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits]]''. He made his recording debut with the Doobies on that album in 1974, performing [[backing singer|backing vocals]] over instrumental tracks that included Hossack.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Keith-Knudsen-Doobies-drummer-2731905.php |title=Keith Knudsen—Doobies' drummer |first=Joel |last=Selvin |author-link=Joel Selvin |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=February 10, 2005}}</ref>

Knudsen did not get behind the drum kit in the recording studio until ''[[Stampede (The Doobie Brothers album)|Stampede]]'' in 1975. Knudsen was co-drummer with [[John Hartman]], (and later, Chet McCracken) until the Doobies disbanded in 1982. His contribution to the group's vocal harmonies in the studio and in concert was as crucial as his drumming.

After the Doobies disbanded in 1982, Knudsen and fellow Doobie [[John McFee]] formed the [[country rock]] band [[Southern Pacific (band)|Southern Pacific]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00coun |url-access=registration |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Kingsbury |chapter=Southern Pacific |first=Thomas |last=Goldsmith |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00coun/page/497 497–498] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |year=1998 |isbn=978-0195176087}}</ref> The group was successful in the country charts but disbanded in the early 1990s. By then, the two men had formed a writing partnership and despite not rejoining the group at that time, co-wrote the song ''Time Is Here And Gone'' with Doobies' percussionist [[Bobby LaKind]], featured on the Doobies reunion album ''[[Cycles (Doobie Brothers album)|Cycles]]'' in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bay-area-bands.com/bab00006.htm |title=The Doobie Brothers |website=bay-area-bands.com |access-date=December 23, 2016}}</ref>

Knudsen organized a one-off Doobies reunion in 1987 to raise funds for the [[National Veterans Foundation]]. After Southern Pacific folded, both he and McFee rejoined the Doobie Brothers on a full-time basis in 1993. Ironically, Knudsen found himself drumming alongside Michael Hossack, whom he had once replaced. Of the multiple pairings of Doobie Brothers drummers over the decades, Knudsen's partnership with Hossack lasted the longest.

He featured prominently as a songwriter on the album ''[[Sibling Rivalry (The Doobie Brothers album)|Sibling Rivalry]]'' (2000). He also featured on the albums ''[[Rockin' Down the Highway: The Wildlife Concert]]'' (1996), and ''[[Live at Wolf Trap]]'' (2004). In 2005, he played drums on [[Emmylou Harris]] "Shores Of White Sand" off her ''All I Intend To Be'' album.

Though Knudsen was a frequent backing vocalist for the Doobie Brothers, he did not sing lead on many released Doobies tracks. On "Double Dealin' Four Flusher" (from ''[[Stampede (The Doobie Brothers album)|Stampede]]'') he is heard trading brief lead vocal lines with Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston. (The box set ''Long Train Runnin': 1970–2000'' has an early rehearsal version of this song, called "Shuffle," with vocals only by Simmons and Knudsen.) Knudsen can also be heard singing lead on songs from the 1982 Doobie Brothers Farewell Tour ("Don't Start Me To Talkin'" from ''[[Farewell Tour (Doobie Brothers album)|Farewell Tour]]''; "Listen To The Music" from the Farewell Tour video and the album ''Live at the Greek Theater 1982''). ''[[Sibling Rivalry (The Doobie Brothers album)|Sibling Rivalry]]'' features two later, and very different sounding, Knudsen lead vocals.

Knudsen died of [[pneumonia]] at a rehabilitation hospital in Kentfield, California, at the age of 56. He was living in [[Sonoma County, California|Sonoma County]] with his wife, artist Kate Knudsen, and his daughter, Dayna Keyes, a radio disc jockey and voice over actor, at the time of his death.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-feb-09-me-knudsen9-story.html |title=Keith Knudsen, 56; Drummer Played for Doobie Brothers, Southern Pacific |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 9, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419192641/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-feb-09-me-knudsen9-story.html|archive-date=2021-04-19 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Discography==
===With the Doobie Brothers (studio albums)===
*''[[What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits]]'' (1974) (US #4)
*''[[Stampede (The Doobie Brothers album)|Stampede]]'' (1975) (US #4)
*''[[Takin' It to the Streets (The Doobie Brothers album)|Takin' It to the Streets]]'' (1976) (US #8)
*''[[Livin' on the Fault Line]]'' (1977) (US #10)
*''[[Minute by Minute]]'' (1978) (US #1)
*''[[One Step Closer (The Doobie Brothers album)|One Step Closer]]'' (1980) (US #3)
*''[[Sibling Rivalry (The Doobie Brothers album)|Sibling Rivalry]]'' (2000)

===With Southern Pacific===
*''Southern Pacific'' (1985)
*''Killbilly Hill'' (1986)
*''Zuma'' (1988)
*''County Line'' (1989)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{AllMusic |class=artist |id=keith-knudsen-mn0000077964}}
*{{Discogs artist|271651-Keith-Knudsen}}
*{{IMDb name|1851443}}
*{{Find a Grave|81265242}}

{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for Keith Knudsen
| list =
{{Grammy Award for Record of the Year 1980s}}
{{2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{The Doobie Brothers}}
{{Southern Pacific}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knudsen, Keith}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:American rock drummers]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Iowa]]
[[Category:The Doobie Brothers members]]
[[Category:People from Le Mars, Iowa]]
[[Category:Southern Pacific (band) members]]
[[Category:American people of Norwegian descent]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American drummers]]
[[Category:American male drummers]]
[[Category:Singers from Iowa]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:Drummers from Iowa]]