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Real Name: James Barry Keefer. I legally changed it to Bazza* Keefer in 1988 in memory of my mother. Birth Date: May 17, 1949. What was it like growing up in Philly? Some of the greatest times of my life, although I only lived there as a child because of my Dad's work, my family would move to Atlantic City, N.J, and then back to the Philadelphia suburbs to a town called Clifton Heights. It was here that I performed and hosted in school plays and variety shows and found my love for music and show business. How did the recording of “98.6” come about?
My accapella group Barry and the Bel-Airs
was performing at a weekly Friday night Catholic school dance hosted
by, at that time, radio DJ Kal Rudman. He liked our sound and hooked
us up with a local successful record producer, Jerry Ross. We did a
few songs on Capitol records that didn't do that well, at which time
he suggested going solo and doing a song called "Ain't Gonna Lie". It
was a Top 20 song and led to the follow-up single "98.6"
What was it like touring and appearing on TV shows, like.. American Bandstand? I was never on American Bandstand, although I watched it religiously growing up as a kid in Philly, but I was on "Where The Action Is", Dick Clarks West Coast version of the same a record 20 times!!! How did the recording of “out of crank” vary from the recording of the “98.6/ain’t gonna lie” album? Recording "98.6" was a work done when I had a lot of time to spend doing it. "Out of Crank" was an entirely different story!!! We had to work studio time around the intense touring and personal appearance schedule I was on and the riggers of the road that play havoc with your vocal cords. For example, on "Makin' Every Minute Count" I remember barely being able to talk at that session, but it was the only opportunity we had in my schedule to record it. What was it like leaving mercury records and signing to RCA, and recording “The adventures of Keith”?
Well, I was sad to leave the label where I had had so much success,
but I felt it was time to move on. I also had the chance to do my own
songs and play on them and have my choice of musicians as well. It was
also a time in the industry when most successful artists of the time
were writing and performing their own music, so recording "Adventures"
was a wonderful experience.
What did you do in 70’s?
The 70's were awesome!!! My family and I moved to Southern California
as I was recruited to sing lead for Frank Zappa and The Mothers of
Invention. What a great man and what a great time for me !!! I did
that until the mid 70's where at this point I spent most of my time
writing and performing locally and at the same time helping to raise a
family.
How did the comeback in the 80’s come about, and what was it like? By the time the 80's rolled around I was still performing locally and oddly enough to packed houses !!! I guess throwing money out to the audience worked !!! I set up a recording studio in my totally buffed-out 3 car garage at my home and created "A.I.R" Records. I proceeded to record and sign 12 artists to the label as well as acquire a handful of corporate advertising accounts. For 8 years I engineered/produced over 100 local bands and had at one point 6 commercial spots on the radio a day !!! I was approached by one of the bands I was recordings manager, Steve Brown, who asked if I would be interested in making a come-back. We recorded an albums worth of original material ,which I still think is great, but was never released. What did you do in the 90’s? The 90's were spent still performing and creating. I did however, through an olde and dear former member of one of my earlier bands, Randy Johnson, get into the T.V industry. I have been working in a technical aspect on 100's of shows thanks to his suggestions and guidance. This is still happening. How’s 2000 to present, going?
So far so good !!! I'm still writing and playing and still in the T.V
biz . I have a commercial agent and have gone out on numerous
"national" auditions as well as pitching music show ideas to MTV and
VH1 and anyone else who'll lend an ear !!! I've been doing a lot of
radio interviews ( thanks to the site) and also still putting my
book"98.6/The Adventures of Keith" together as well as getting ready
to go back into the studio. My son, Jamie, and his wife, Ariel, had a
baby girl last year, Evelyn Rose, and my Daughter, Kristen, got
married last June to a great guy, Joe. It's trully been a wonderful
life and it's not anywhere near over yet !!! And "I ain't Gonna
Lie"!!!
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