Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

KNECHTEL, Larry

(b 4 August 1940, Bell CA; d 20 August 2009, Yakima WA) Keyboardist, also bass and harmonica. He was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a group of west-coast studio musicians that included Glen Campbell and Leon Russell (see also Hal Blaine). In the 1970s he was a member of the popular soft-rock group Bread, playing all his instruments on their various hits, but he remained a ubiquitous freelance and studio musician, performing and recording with Duane Eddy, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, the Doors, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Neil Diamond, Randy Newman, the Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams Jr and many more.

He played piano on a Simon & Garfunkel album and shared a Grammy for the arrangement of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. More recently he played keyboards on the Dixie Chicks' Grammy-winning album Taking The Long Way, and on their tour for that album.