Tommy Keene (born Thomas Clay Keene; June 30, 1958 – November 22, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for releasing critically acclaimed rock & roll/power pop songs in the 1980s. Not a household name by any means, Keene was a star in the world of indie rock. In a world populated by literally thousands of guitar players, Keene's sharp, extra crunchy guitar tone was distinct and unmistakable. His songwriting was melodic in the extreme and always in search of the kind of irresistible hook that could anchor a blockbuster single.
Evanston, Illinois-born Keene was raised in Bethesda, Maryland. As a child, Keene played classical piano before picking up guitar and drums. He graduated in 1976 from Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, which was also the alma mater of fellow musician Nils Lofgren, who went on to play and record with Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. Keene played drums in one version of Lofgren's early bands, Blue Steel.
In 1977, while attending the University of Maryland, Keene switched to guitar and formed the short-lived band the Rage with songwriter Richard X. Heyman. During this period, Keene left the Rage to join popular Washington, D.C. rock band the Razz, who opened for such notable acts as the Ramones, Devo, and Patti Smith. It was in the Razz that Keene met bass player Ted Nicely, who would work with him throughout the '80s. The Razz released several local independent singles. Keene’s 1984 EP Places That Are Gone became one of the year's top selling independent releases. That same year, Washington City Paper dubbed Keene "one of the best pop songwriters anywhere." Places That Are Gone garnered a four-star review in Rolling Stone, and was voted the No. 1 EP in the following year's Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll.
After the Razz, Keene embarked on a European tour as a sideman for new wave singer Suzanne Fellini before co-founding the band Pieces in New York. Unhappy with the music, Keene decided to form his own group with Nicely and drummer Doug Tull (also from the Razz), plus guitarist Michael Colburn, who was soon replaced by Billy Connelly. Using Keene's name, they released Strange Alliance on their own Avenue label in 1982, before being picked up by North Carolina label Dolphin. Keene recorded two EPs there before signing to Geffen, which released two albums, Songs from the Film and Based on Happy Times, as well as Run Now, a six-song EP of previously recorded material, before dropping Keene from its roster.
With a new backup band that included bassist/vocalist Brad Quinn and drummer John Richardson, Keene inked a deal with Matador in the early '90s, recording the EP Sleeping on a Roller Coaster and a full-length album entitled Ten Years After in 1996.. In addition to recording and touring behind his records, Keene spent some of the '90s as a guitarist for hire, on the road with both Velvet Crush and Paul Westerberg. Keene worked with producers T-Bone Burnett, Don Dixon, and R. Walt Vincent. He continued to record and tour and released an album with Robert Pollard, of Guided by Voices, as 'The Keene Brothers.' He was also a member of Pollard's live backing band "The Ascended Masters" also featuring Jon Wurster, Jason Narducy, and Dave Phillips.
As well, he toured as an additional guitar player in Pollard's Boston Spaceships. Keene also played guitar on the Goo Goo Dolls' hit song, "Broadway", on their 1998 album, Dizzy Up The Girl. Also during that year, he released a new studio album, Isolation Party. Four years later, he hooked up with his longtime rhythm section of John Richardson and Brad Quinn, Wilco's Jay Bennett, singer/songwriter Adam Schmitt, and ex-Gin Blossoms frontman Robin Wilson to issue The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.
In 2004, he switched lineups and released Drowning, and two years later, his tenth solo record, Crashing the Ether, came out on Eleven Thirty Records. In the Late Bright followed in 2009 on Second Motion. The following year saw the release of the double-disc career-spanning compilation Tommy Keene You Hear Me: A Retrospective 1983-2009. In 2011, Keene returned with the studio album Behind the Parade. Two years later, he released a collection of covers called Excitement at Your Feet, which he then followed in 2015 with the all-original Laugh in the Dark.
Sadly, Tommy Keene died unexpectedly fron cardiac arrest in his sleep on November 22, 2017 at the age of 59.
(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & Stereophile)
Tommy Keene was a brilliant musician who never got the full appreciation he deserved. Here’s a video of “Places That Are Gone” from a great single from 1984 which is a perfect example of what made Tommy a Power Pop legend.