Bobby Keys & Keith Richards

Bobby Keys, longtime saxophonist for The Rolling Stones, died today at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. He had been battling cirrhosis.

Keys was born in Slaton, Texas, where he discovered and was influenced by the sound of saxophonist King Curtis. As a teenager, he briefly played with Buddy Holly in Lubbock.

He first crossed paths with the Stones in 1964 and backed them on some of their most revered albums, including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. Keys and Keith Richards shared a birth date (12/18/43) and were known for their late night, offstage antics, once throwing a television off a hotel balcony in 1972. But Keys and Jagger had a contentious relationship, and Keys played off & on with the band during the Seventies before joining them for good in 1979. He was part of the Stones’ 14 on Fire tour, missing the recent Australian leg.

Keys also appeared on albums by The Who, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett, Joe Cocker and many others.

Often cited for his solo on Sticky Fingers’ “Brown Sugar,” Keys made one of the greatest contributions on a Stones album by a non-member of the band with his extended jam/solo on “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.“

In 1979, guitarist Mick Taylor said: ” ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ is one of my favorites. (The jam at the end) just happened by accident; that was never planned. Towards the end of the song I just felt like carrying on playing. Everybody was putting their instruments down, but the tape was still rolling and it sounded good, so everybody quickly picked up their instruments again and carried on playing. It just happened, and it was a one-take thing.”

Keys’ solo runs from 3:00 to 4:40 below.

Ironically, it was exactly 45 years ago — from December 2-4, 1969 — that the Stones cut the basic tracks and live vocals for “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses” and “You Gotta Move” at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama.