Keith Gordon Green (October 21, 1953 – July 28, 1982) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, he was a child performer and recording artist before turning to contemporary Christian music in the late 1970s.
Following his conversion to Christianity, Green and his wife, Melody, founded Last Days Ministries, through which they combined music with evangelism, discipleship, and ministry to people in need. Between 1977 and 1982, he released five studio albums and, in 1979, adopted a policy of distributing his recordings for voluntary contributions rather than fixed prices and of refusing to charge admission to concerts.
Green died in a plane crash in Texas on July 28, 1982, along with two of his children and nine others. Numerous recordings, compilations, books, documentaries, and tribute albums have been released posthumously.
Green was born in 1953 in Sheepshead Bay, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. In 1957, his family moved to Canoga Park, Los Angeles, where he grew up. Green's parents were Jewish but practiced Christian Science. The family had a history of musical performance, Green's grandfather (George Bennett) being founder of Jaguar Records in New York, his mother a big-band singer, and his father (Harvey) working with Keith in the music industry in Los Angeles. According to his wife Melody, Green grew up "in an atmosphere of moral purity, free of alcohol and drugs" and said his family's way of life "had a wonderfully preserving effect on Keith during his early years."
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." 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" of "the little Italian street urchin, Mauro"; 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. According to the LA Times, he had already done a number of television commercials and made a TV pilot.
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.
In 1965, Green was the youngest person ever to sign with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) upon publication of his song, "A Go-Go Getter" at age 11. By age 12 Green had already written 40 original songs, when along with his father and business manager Harvey, he signed a five-year contract with Decca Records in February 1965. The first song released on disc was in May 1965, produced by Gary Usher, the very song he composed and published before signing with Decca.
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 his song, "We'll Do a Lot of Things Together".
Green had written 10 more songs when Time ran an article about aspiring young rock-'n'-roll singers and referred to him as Decca Records' "prepubescent dreamboat". 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. He was quickly forgotten by the public.
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 who perceived that his music career had failed, he ran away from home, began smoking marijuana, and used occasional 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 Christian Bible. A prolific journal keeper, in December 1972 Green wrote, "Jesus, you are hereby officially welcomed into me. Only time will tell."
By age 19, Green had stopped using drugs, lost interest in Eastern religions, and started seriously looking into Christianity. In early 1973 he met Melody Steiner, who was also Jewish as well as a songwriter. Becoming inseparable, the couple eloped at The Little Brown Church in Studio City, California, on Christmas Day 1973. The newlywed couple sought more knowledge of Jesus together when, in May 1975, they visited a home bible study in Beverly Hills, California called Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Led by Vineyard founder Kenn Gulliksen, the Greens later said it was during the study that they felt the presence of God through the teaching and guitar-led worship. Hearing the Gospel for the first time and learning about Jesus as a Jewish rabbi, Green and his wife became born again Christians.
In 1975, the Greens, newly converted to Christianity, 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 for two years 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. The Greens continued to open their home but mostly to strangers in need. They eventually ran out of space and, purchasing the home next door to their own and renting an additional five homes 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 Greens' homes and traipsing down the suburban streets—including recovering drug addicts, bikers, a few prostitutes, abused women, and many single pregnant girls all 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. Green also became an ordained minister, seeing his music as a tool of his ministry.
Green's initial tone of ministry was influenced by the words of Jesus in the Bible. Later, he was also influenced by his friends, authors and teachers 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 believed that all Christians needed to have at least a brief stint on the mission field. He also realized he was often too hard on growing believers and 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.
Green was signed to contemporary Christian music label Sparrow Records in 1976 and worked on the album Firewind (1976) with Christian artists 2nd Chapter of Acts, Terry Talbot, John Michael Talbot, and Barry McGuire. Prior to Green's signing with Sparrow Records, Keith and Melody wrote "I Don't Wanna Fall Away From You" which was recorded by Tommy James, of Tommy James and the Shondells, for his 1976 Fantasy album In Touch.