Keith Green

Green was born in Sheepshead Bay, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.[2] In 1957, his family moved to Canoga Park, Los Angeles where he grew up.[3][2] Green's parents were Jewish Christian Scientists and the family had a history of musical performance.[4] According to his wife Melody, "growing up in an atmosphere of moral purity, free of alcohol and drugs, had a wonderfully preserving effect on Keith during his early years."[5]

Green took to music at a young age, as he "began with the ukulele at three, the guitar at five, and the piano at seven."[6] His talents were noted by a major newspaper when he was eight, following a performance of Arthur Laurents' The Time of the Cuckoo. A local review by the Los Angeles Times wrote, "roguish-looking, eight-year-old Keith Green gave a winning portrayal"[7] of "the little Italian street urchin, Mauro";[8] another review commented that he "stole the show". The show was Green's first appearance in live theater, which was held in Chatsworth, Los Angeles in September 1962.[6] According to the LA Times, he had already done a number of television commercials and made a TV pilot.[8]

Green played the role of Kurt von Trapp in The Sound of Music starring Janet Blair in the opening production at the Valley Music Theater, a modern 2865-seat theatre in the round in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles when he was 10.[6]

Keith Green's first disc release; the flip side has The Way I Used To Be

Green and his father Harvey signed a five-year contract with Decca Records in February 1965, with Harvey as business manager, having written 40 original songs already. The first song released on disc was "A Go-Go Getter" in May 1965, produced by Gary Usher,[9] which he had composed and published before signing with Decca. He became the youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) upon publication of this song at age 11.[6]

Decca Records planned to make Green a teen idol, regularly getting him featured in fan magazines such as Teen Scene and on television shows such as The Jack Benny Program and The Steve Allen Show. He was a guest on the television game show I've Got a Secret on May 3, 1965. His secret was "I just signed a five-year contract as a rock-'n'-roll singer." The segment included a live performance of "We'll Do a Lot of Things Together".

Green had written 10 more songs by the time that he was 12. Time ran an article about aspiring young rock-'n'-roll singers and referred to him as Decca Records' "prepubescent dreamboat".[10] The national attention that had been envisioned by Decca Records failed to materialize for Green, however, as Donny Osmond captured the attention of preteens and teenagers, eclipsing Green's newfound stardom; and he was quickly forgotten by the public.[11]

He grew up reading the New Testament and called the mixture of being Jewish and learning about Jesus "an odd combination" that left him open-minded but confused and deeply unsatisfied. As a teen perceiving his music career had failed, he ran away from home, began smoking marijuana, and used some psychedelics in hopes of finding spiritual truth. He became interested in eastern mysticism and the "free love" culture. His five year spiritual quest eventually led him back to the Bible, writing his diary in December 1972, "Jesus, you are hereby officially welcomed into me."[2][12]

By the time Keith was 19 he had quit all drug use, lost interest in eastern mysticism, and was solely looking into the biblical teachings of Jesus. In early 1973 he was wearing a small antique cross when he met Melody Steiner, also a Jewish seeker and a songwriter. They became inseparable; and on Christmas morning that same year, they eloped to be married in the name of Jesus, at The Little Brown Church in Studio City, CA. Still searching, in March of 1975 they visited a small home bible-study in Brentwood, called the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, led by Kenn Gulliksen, where they felt the presence of God during simple guitar led worship, before the message. Then they heard the Gospel for the first time, and the spiritual experience for both was so authentic that they gave their lives to Jesus, understanding that Jesus was also Jewish. They became Christians together, but also kept their Jewish identity, as they attended Protestant churches.

In 1975, the Greens, new believers in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, began taking people who needed help into their small home in the suburbs of Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley. Both were staff songwriters for CBS Records in Hollywood and used their income to support all who came. Early on, their close friend and Christian recording artist, Randy Stonehill, who was struggling at the time, stayed for a while. Their home was later dubbed "The Greenhouse" – a place where people grow.[13] The Greens continued to open their home but mostly to strangers in need.[14] They eventually ran out of space and, purchasing the home next door to their own and renting an additional five in the same neighborhood, they provided a safe environment of Bible studies and practical discipleship to young and old alike. The majority were teenagers and those of college age. Much to the consternation of neighbors, there came to be 75 people living in the Green's homes and traipsing down the suburban streets—including recovering drug addicts and prostitutes, bikers, the homeless, and many single pregnant girls needing shelter and safety. Some were referred to the Greens by other ministries and shelters, but most just crossed their path during their normal life at home and on the road. In 1977, the Greens' personal outreach became a nonprofit ministry they called Last Days Ministries.[15] Green also became an ordained minister, seeing his music as a tool of his ministry.[16]

Green's initial tone of ministry was influenced by the words of Jesus in the Bible. Later, he was also influenced by his friends Winkie Pratney, and Leonard Ravenhill, who pointed him to Charles Finney, a nineteenth-century revivalist preacher who preached the holiness of God to provoke conviction in his hearers. During his concerts he would often exhort his listeners to repent and commit themselves more wholly to following Christ. Through relationships with Loren Cunningham the founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM), missions leader John Dawson, and a trip with his wife to overseas missions projects, Green saw the worldwide need for missionaries. He realized he was often too hard on growing believers and believed that all Christians needed to have at least a brief stint on the mission field. His assurance of God's unconditional love for him grew as well. This transition is evident in his music beginning with So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt in 1980. He described the changes he went through in his next-to-last article for the Last Days Magazine.[17]

Along with 11 others, Green died on July 28, 1982, when the Robertson STOL-modified Cessna 414 leased by Last Days Ministries crashed after takeoff from the private airstrip located on the LDM property. The small twin-engined plane was carrying 11 passengers and the pilot, Don Burmeister, for an aerial tour[24] of the LDM property and the surrounding area. Green and two of his children, three-year-old Josiah and two-year-old Bethany, were on board the plane, along with visiting church planters, John and Dede Smalley and their six children. Green's wife Melody was at home with one-year-old Rebekah and six weeks pregnant with their fourth child, Rachel, born in March 1983.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the crash was caused by the pilot in command (PIC) allowing the aircraft to be loaded beyond its operating limitations. The required preflight weight and balance computations responsibility of civilian pilots would have shown it was dangerously overloaded and also outside its weight and balance operating envelope. This responsibility with military pilots is the responsibility of the military loadmaster, and thus he may have, by force of habit, overlooked this responsibility. Don Alan Burmeister was a former United States Marine Corps aviator, but FAA records show he had very limited experience / training in flying conventional (vs. centerline thrust) twin-engine aircraft. Records show it was only a short time prior to the accident (6/9/82) that he completed a check-ride to remove the "centerline thrust" restriction from his pilot's certificate. This check-ride should have fully evaluated his ability to fly a conventional multi-engine aircraft throughout its designed range of operations, but the flight examiner was decertified the next month (7/10/82) by the FAA due to a "history of incomplete or substandard check-rides". Additionally, the insurance carrier (Ideal Mutual Insurance Co.) required Burmeister to log 1,045 hrs of flying time, attend a Cessna ground and flight training course, as well as log 15 hours in a Cessna 414 (C-414) prior to acting as the PIC of the leased aircraft. The NTSB record shows he failed to accomplish all of these requirements. With pilot and eleven passengers, the aircraft was overloaded by an estimated 445 pounds (202 kg), and the location of the center of gravity was found to be 4.26 inches (108 mm) beyond the maximum aft limit. Combined with an air temperature of 90 °F (32 °C), creating a condition known as "hot and high" (high density altitude, producing a lower climb rate on takeoff and greater danger of stalling), the C-414 could do little but struggle into the air within ground effect, and once airborne was left virtually uncontrollable. These factors prevented the aircraft from ever attaining sufficient altitude, and it crashed into trees less than a mile from the airport.[25][26]

Keith Gordon Green, Josiah David Green (September 18, 1978 – July 28, 1982), and Bethany Grace Green (February 5, 1980 – July 28, 1982) are interred in the same coffin at Garden Valley Cemetery behind the Garden Valley Baptist Church,[27][28] less than a half-mile from the LDM property. He was survived by his wife and two daughters, Rebekah Joy Green (b. 1981) and Rachel Hope Green (b. March 1983, eight months after Green's death).

Two full albums of original Green songs were released posthumously: The Prodigal Son (1983) and Jesus Commands Us to Go! (1984). Another release, I Only Want to See You There (1983) contained mostly previously released material. A compilation of his recorded work, The Ministry Years, was released as a two-volume set in 1987 and 1988 and included five previously unreleased songs.

Another unreleased Christian song "Born Again" by Keith and Melody was finally released in 1999, 17 years after his death, on the First Love compilation video and CD. Both feature a two-song tribute to Green by other Christian artists.

In 2008, Melody with her grown daughters Rebekah Joy and Rachel Hope partnered with Sparrow Records and released The Live Experience – Special Edition, a CD/DVD combination of 16 live recordings and 4 hours of DVD footage including video of live performances as well as details regarding Green's life and his passing.[32] A greatest hits album was also released at the same time, including 17 of Green's most popular songs and one more previously unreleased Christian song, "Your Love Came Over Me".

On November 23, 2009, the EP Happy Birthday to You Jesus was released, containing a talk by Green about Christmas and another previously unreleased song, "Happy Birthday to You Jesus".

A prolific personal journalist, Green's writings were published as excerpts in the books A Cry in the Wilderness (Sparrow, 1993), If You Love the Lord (Harvest House, 2000), and Make My Life a Prayer (Harvest House, 2001).

(All released posthumously)

• No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green by Melody Green (1989)
• A Cry in the Wilderness: Twelve Bold Messages About Uncompromising Faith (1993)
• If You Love the Lord (2000)
• Make My Life a Prayer (2001)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Keith Green.

• Keith Green at Find a Grave
• Last Days Ministries
• Aircraft Incident and Accident report (contains text of NTSB report and a great deal more information)
• Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents, 1980s (This ties Keith Green to the Aircraft Registration Number in the NTSB report)
• High Altitude Aerial Photo of Garden Valley, with a view of private runway inside the Last Days Ministries property (1995 satellite photo)
• The Keith Green Story, video documentary