‘Incredibly gifted musician’ who created hits, rocked with greats dead at 83
Longtime fans of blues and rock music are mourning the death of Barry Goldberg, a keyboard player, songwriter, session musician and producer. During a career that spanned six decades, Goldberg created enduring hits and worked with the likes of Bob Dylan, Steve Miller, Stephen Stills, the Ramones, Rod Stewart, Percy Sledge, Gram Parsons, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and more.
Goldberg died on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at age 83, according to his publicist. The Chicago native died in hospice care after a 10-year battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that produces malignant cells in the lymphatic system. “Gail Goldberg, his wife of 53 years, and son Aram were at this bedside,” the publicist said.
Among his other claims to fame, Goldberg played keyboard in Dylan’s backing band during the star’s controversial “electric” appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
“At the beginning, it was just a gig,” Goldberg said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “Bob said, ‘You want to play with me tonight?’ I wasn’t a folkie or knew how serious those people were. We started doing our thing, playing that song [‘Like a Rolling Stone’]. At the end, there were boos but also cheers. They felt betrayed by him. But Bob was creating a new kind of music, and after we were done, everyone knew how special it was.”
Goldberg and Dylan forged a relationship that continued in the early 1970s, when Dylan arrived in Alabama to produce Goldberg’s self-titled album in the Shoals.
“In 1972, Barry Goldberg arrived at Muscle Shoals Sound with producers Jerry Wexler and Bob Dylan and recorded his self-titled record,” said a Jan. 23 Instagram post from Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. “Goldberg passed away yesterday, but his legacy of playing with Muddy Waters and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band made him a legend.”
RELATED: The secrets behind Bob Dylan’s Muscle Shoals albums
Goldberg also has a tie to the Alabama-centric movie “Forrest Gump.” With Gerry Goffin, he was the co-writer of “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination,” a 1973 hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips that was featured in the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning film.
Goldberg’s publicist traced his life and career via a press release that says:
“Barry Goldberg, the centerpiece of the documentary film ‘Born in Chicago,’ was in fact born in the Windy City on Christmas Day, 1941. His mother Nettie Goldberg, née Nettie Becker, was a barrelhouse piano player in her own right and a veteran of the Jewish theater circuit. His father Frank Goldberg was one of eight children born to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant parents, including US Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.
“While still in high school, Goldberg befriended guitarist Mike Bloomfield; the two often ventured from Chicago’s northern suburbs to the inner city night clubs on the South Side where they, along with Paul Butterfield, Musselwhite and Siegel, became acquainted with, and were ultimately mentored by such first-generation blues legends as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Sam Lay and others. Goldberg played live with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (which included his friend Bloomfield) when they backed Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival; by ‘going electric,’ this performance launched the folk rock revolution, as depicted in the hit film ‘A Complete Unknown.’
“Goldberg’s relationship with Dylan transcended that historic moment as they would later go on to jam with Doug Sahm and The Band in Woodstock, NY. When Goldberg was on the cusp of signing a contract with RCA to record a solo album in 1973, Dylan told him to hold off until he spoke to Jerry Wexler at Atlantic.
“Dylan biographer Robert Shelton chronicled Dylan’s side of the ensuing conversation: ‘I’m on the phone with Jerry Wexler from Atlantic Records and I think we can work out a deal but I’m gonna have to produce you; that’s cool, isn’t it?’ Barry’s response: ‘That’s really cool.’
“‘Barry Goldberg’ (1974) would become the only album Bob Dylan ever produced for another artist. When Wexler asked where the album should be made, Goldberg suggested Muscle Shoals, AL as that was where he had cut some of the fabled collaborations with Bloomfield that became the ‘Two Jews Blues’ album in 1969 (which included Duane Allman). Some of the same players would also end up backing him on the Dylan/Wexler-produced project.
“Dylan, who had never been to Muscle Shoals, drove from California in his van with the ensuing sessions spanning five days and nights in August of 1973. Years later, Goldberg returned the favor when he produced Bob Dylan’s version of ‘People Get Ready’ for ‘Flashback,’ the feature film starring Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland for which he served as music supervisor.
“As a session player, Goldberg contributed organ to Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels’ 1966 Top 5 hit ‘Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly’ and later worked on albums by Leonard Cohen, Ramones and Flying Burrito Brothers, among many others. His bond with Bloomfield continued as they formed The Electric Flag with Buddy Miles and Harvey Brooks. This band recorded ‘A Long Time Comin’,’ a groundbreaking album for Columbia in 1968, and well as the soundtrack to ‘The Trip,’ starring Peter Fonda.
“Goldberg was the co-writer, with Gerry Goffin, of hits including ‘It’s Not The Spotlight’ (Bobby Blue Bland, Rod Stewart) and ‘I’ve Got To Use My Imagination’ (a #1 R&B record for Gladys Knight & The Pips; also recorded by Joe Cocker). Goldberg also co-produced with Saul Davis two award-winning Percy Sledge albums.
“He was co-writer with Gram Parsons of ‘Do You Know How It Feels,’ recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers. More recently, he toured and recorded with The Rides, a musical partnership with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Stephen Stills. Their two albums, released in 2013 and 2016, both hit #1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart.
“After a tumultuous high school experience Goldberg enlisted in the Marines, completing basic training at Parris Island, SC. In 1970, he met Gail Fliashnick at the Chelsea Hotel in New York after Michael Bloomfield set them up. Within two weeks, they were engaged and were wed on May 15, 1971. She is a designer and artist from New York, who studied in Rome and at Temple University in Philadelphia. Their son Aram is a Los Angeles-based management executive.
“In lieu of flowers, Barry’s family asks that donations in his name be made to The Bear League through savebears.org.”
Fans and former colleagues have been paying tribute to Goldberg via social media, including Steve Miller and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
“Barry Goldberg was a great pianist, a brilliant songwriter and a lifetime friend,” Miller said in a Jan. 23 Facebook post. “We played blues together in Chicago in 1965 as the Goldberg-Miller Blues Band and he was an important part of the blues revival in Chicago in the mid ’60s. R.I.P Barry, yours was a great musical journey.”
“Today we lost a dear friend and an incredibly gifted musician,” Shepherd said via Instagram. “My bandmate Barry Goldberg from my project The Rides with Stephen Stills passed away today. Barry was a musical powerhouse and a sweetheart of a person. If you knew him and his wife Gail you’d never forget them. Both full of love and adoration for one another and attached at the hip. If you didn’t know Barry do yourself a favor and learn about him as he was part of many of the musical moments that defined Rock & Roll. We will all miss him dearly but I’m forever grateful for the time we had together.”
Watch Goldberg perform with The Rides in the video below.
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