Portrait of Keith Green

Birthday profile

Keith Green

Keith Green, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and minister (died 1982)

Born
October 21, 1953
Died
July 28, 1982
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1953

About Keith Green

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. == Early life == 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.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Keith Green timeline

  1. The show was Green's first appearance in live theater, which was held in Chatsworth, Los Angeles in September 1962.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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 world when Keith Green was born

Keith Green was born in 1953. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1953

  • #1 song"Doggie in the Window" – Patti Page
  • Top movieFrom Here to Eternity
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookCasino Royale – Ian Fleming

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentEdmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summit Mount Everest
  • Top headlineCoronation of Queen Elizabeth II
  • Technology milestoneWatson and Crick discover the structure of DNA
  • Defining fadTV dinners
  • Notable inventionTV dinner
  • World population2.68 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonMinneapolis Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population159.0M

1953 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Keith Green's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19532026
Gas$0.29$3.45/gal
Average home$9,500$435,000
Average income$5,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.60$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population159.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.