KEITH ALTHAM - PR TO THE STARS

The music writer and PR Keith Altham, whose death aged 84 was announced yesterday, was a fixture in my life for over 50 years. He’d seen it all and done it all, and no one I know, probably no one in the world, had a richer fund of hilarious stories – many of them salty and unflattering – about the music business and those who toil within it. I never came away from spending time with Keith without a smile on my face.

        Keith was already a seasoned music business insider by the time I reached Melody Maker in 1970. He began his career writing for Fabulous in the early 1960s, then graduated to NME, and he wrote about everyone, Beatles, Stones, Who, you name them. When he branched out into PR in 1971 his client roster reads like a Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. He was down to earth and practical, and didn’t stand for any prima donna behaviour from anyone, no matter how famous they were. His 1999 book No More Mister Nice Guy! is series of letters to those clients of his, 37 in total, and he doesn’t mince words. It’s one of the funniest music books you’ll find anywhere.

        At various times Keith represented the two groups, The Who and Slade, with whom I became the closest during my time on Melody Maker, and it’s perhaps no coincidence that the only two stars who come of out of No More Mister Nice Guy! smelling of roses are Pete Townshend and Noddy Holder. He and I tended to think alike. 

        His escapades with Keith Moon could fill a book, and I can still recall spending a hair-raising afternoon in 1971 with the two Keiths and ‘Legs’ Larry Smith at the Chertsey Agricultural Show. Quite why Moonie and Legs had decided to enter the ‘throwing a hay bale’ competition no one knew, or cared, but they did and Keith Altham was on hand to ensure that the local papers got all the photos they needed. When John Entwistle died, Keith wrote, knowingly: “His dexterity and imagination on the bass guitar – often considered a basic and pedestrian instrument in other groups – was an integral part of the Who’s classic wall of sound, so much so that that the three instrumentalists and one vocalist on stage often sounded like a full orchestra on the charge. John’s complex rhythms always provided an explosive cannon at the rear.”

        As for Slade, it was Keith’s suggestion in 1969 to turn them into skinheads and their manager Chas Chandler, always keen to generate publicity, good or bad, leapt on the idea. Years later, when I was researching my Slade book Feel The Noize! Keith was enormously helpful, and we spent three days together in Walsall, spending time with Noddy, Jim Lea, Dave Hill and the group’s tour manager Graham ‘Swin’ Swinnerton. He was particularly close to Chas and in 1996 we took a train to Newcastle together to attend Chas’ funeral in Cullercoats on Tyneside where Keith gave a eulogy, mentioning – to everyone’s astonishment – that at one time Chas had plans to link Perth to Sydney by canal. 

        Keith was always happy to share his memories with anyone and everyone. In 2018, he and I were among many who attended the premiere of a movie entitled Should Have Been There, a documentary about Melody Maker in the 1960s and 70s that focused on the work of our photographer Barrie Wentzell. I took along my son Sam, then aged 23 and a massive admirer of Jimi Hendrix. Aware that Keith had known Hendrix well (it was Keith who’d suggested Jimi set his guitar alight at the London Astoria back in 1967, and he was the last journalist to interview him in 1970), I steered them both to a pizza restaurant in Leicester Square when the film was over and for the next hour he delighted Sam, who was spellbound, with stories about the great guitarist. 

This photograph was taken following the movie premiere I refer to above. Keith is second from the left, in a hat, and I'm stood just behind him, alongside Chris Welch and his wife Marilyn. Barrie Wentzell is in the centre, and my son Sam is second from the right. 

        For the past 20 years or so Keith and I met twice a year at the Bull’s Head in Barnes where a group of music industry veterans gather together to reminisce about how things were before big business and computers ruined everything. It was always a pleasure to spend time with Keith, even though in recent years his health wasn’t what it was. Four years ago, Keith’s daughter Nancy asked me contribute to a book to be presented to Keith on his 80th birthday. Here’s what I wrote: 

Lines of the occasion of KA’s 80th

(With apologies to Pete Townshend)

People try to put him down

Just because he gets around

He’s a prince among his peers

Hope he lives for 100 years

This is Keith Altham

Keith Altham, baby

Why don't we all kneel and p-p-pray

To wish our Keith a happy birthday

I’m not tryin’ to cause a big s-s-sensation

Just tryin’ to give him v-v-veneration

This is Keith Altham

This is Keith Altham, baby

He ain’t gonna f-fade away

‘Cos we all like what he has to s-s-say

I love him ‘cos he loves The Who

An’ if you don’t dig that well screw you too

Talkin’ ‘about Keith Altham

Keith Altham, baby

RIP old pal.