Brian Edmund Peter Keenan (January 28, 1943 – October 5, 1985) was an American musician, best known as the drummer for

the Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wit ...

. Born in New York, he also lived in

Conisbrough Conisbrough () is a town within the City of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don at . It has a ward population (Conisbrough and Denaby) of 14,333. ...

near

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England, and Ireland as a child.

Background

Keenan was part of the Chambers Brothers from 1965 to 1971,The Chambers Brothers
/ref> and also played with the pre-"Doo Wah Diddy Diddy"

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

group in England. His own group was the house band at Ondine, the first

discotheque A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

After playing briefly with Manfred Mann, Keenan returned to New York in the mid-1960s. Prior to joining The Chambers Brothers, Keenan was a member of the Ondine night club house band, The Losers which was formed around 1965. Referred to as a funky blues rock pop band, the group is said to have been made up pf Joe Nessor (bass and vocal), Tony Sal (Guitar and vocal), Brian Keenan (drums) and a guitarist possibly called Russell. The group is referred to as Reunion in a ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' article.

The Chambers Brothers

In 1966 at age 21, he joined The Chambers Brothers. Bill Graham, the impresario behind the Fillmore West and the Fillmore East, felt that Brian was an exciting live rock drummer. The few times the Chambers Brothers were not top-billed (not the main act that night) with Brian on drums, the top-billed group was reluctant to follow them because they were intimidated by the Chambers Brothers with Keenan on drums. The Brothers affectionately referred to Brian as Curley and introduced him onstage as Brian "Chambers" Keenan. The Chambers Brothers predated

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

as harbingers of

psychedelic soul Psychedelic soul (originally called black rock or conflated with psychedelic funk) is a music genre that emerged in the late 1960s and saw Black soul musicians embrace elements of psychedelic rock, including its production techniques, instrumenta ...

. Keenan also wrote one of its early songs, "Love Me Like the Rain," which appeared on the ''Shout'' album. Keenan left the group in 1971 after major financial abuses by the group's management were unresolved.

Later years

He started up his own recording studio in Connecticut.Classicbands.com
The Chambers Brothers
/ref>

Death and legacy

Keenan suffered a fatal heart attack on October 5, 1985, at age 42. Keenan is buried at Queen of Peace cemetery in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

. He leaves one child, a daughter, also a drummer.

References

Links

Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keenan, Brian 1943 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American drummers American male drummers The Chambers Brothers members 20th-century American male musicians