David A. Keeps
Born and raised in suburban Detroit, David A. Keeps came of age tuning in Soupy Sales and Batman and listening to Motown and the British Invasion on local radio stations WKNR and CKLW. At the University of Michigan, he traded up from pop to glam and punk precursors including Bowie, Alice, Lou and Iggy. After visiting London in the summer of 1977, he began writing for New York Rocker, where he would also hustle record company ads in the early 1980s.
He was tapped by a pre-Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant to work on the American version of Smash Hits (known as Star Hits due to copyright issues), where he became a chronicler of all things "New Wave" during the middle 1980s. The Anglophile Keeps also wrote for Creem and English publications including a myriad of EMAP titles, the NME, The Face and Arena.
Throughout the 1990s, Keeps led music, celebrity and style coverage in the Condé Nast iteration of Details. As an L.A.-based freelancer, he contributed to the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Travel + Leisure, GQ, Rolling Stone and Blender. He hosted two travel shows, Art & the City and The Scenic Route for the Ovation channel and worked as a writer and producer for the award-winning film and television production company World of Wonder.
27 articles
List of articles in the library
Dog Eat Dog (no wave), Konk, Liquid Liquid: Liquid Liquid, Konk, Dog Eat Dog: Beat • Sound • Motion
Profile and Interview by David A. Keeps, New York Rocker, October 1981
SOMETHING DECIDEDLY hep is alive in the cellar. ...
Was (Not Was): Back Come the Freaks
Interview by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
Was (Not Was)'s major problem was that they could never sing. Their voices would always come out sounding freaky. To overcome this they've brought in ...
Tupelo Chain Sex: Tupelo Sex, Honey
Profile and Interview by David A. Keeps, Creem, February 1984
LOS ANGELES — An incandescent chainsaw named Elvis snuggles up to a sex ad floozie on the back, and on the front the title begs ...
Interview by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 24 May 1984
Bubblegum, Swimming, Rubber jewellery, Ice cream sundaes with hot fudge topping... Madonna thinks they're all yummy, as David Keeps finds out. ...
Thomas Dolby: The Case For Thomas Dolby
Interview by David A. Keeps, Creem, July 1984
SUBJECT: Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson, age 25, white male Caucasian of English extraction. Taller than average height; average medium body weight. Dirty blond hair. Shortsighted, ...
John Mellencamp: John Cougar Mellencamp: Radio City Music Hall, New York
Live Review by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
JOHN COUGAR Mellencamp has a big old heart and one helluva nerve. First he has his buddy (and band hairdresser) warm up the crowd with ...
Angel Corpus Christi, Suicide: Suicide, Angel Corpus Christi: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
BACK FROM THE DEAD ...
10,000 Maniacs: 10,000 tensions relieved!!
Interview by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
DAVID KEEPS finds 10,000 MANIACS happy at home. ...
Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five
Interview by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 11 October 1984
They're from New York. They're the most famous rapping crew in the world. Their single 'White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)' has been in the ...
Quiet Riot: Very serious about not being serious
Interview by David A. Keeps, Creem, November 1984
FOR YOUR average cub-reportin' type rock hack, the Road Trip stands as a hallowed institution, a chance to meet rock 'n' roll's Olympians "up close ...
Interview by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 8 November 1984
"For five years I've been really working at creating masterpieces. Now I do a song and put rapping on it — which is really the ...
Chaka Khan, Rufus: Chaka Khan (1984)
Interview by David A. Keeps, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1984
As 'I Feel For You' enters the charts, and surrounded by her children, Chaka talks about her reservations of the record; how she started singing, and how she joined Rufus; Stevie Wonder writing 'Tell Me Something Good' for the group; her Chicago childhood; how the business has changed in the last ten years, and how she views herself as a singer.
File format: mp3; file size: 23.3mb; Interview length: 24' 15"; sound quality: ****
Interview by David A. Keeps, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1984
La Ciccone talks about making Desperately Seeking Susan: wanting the part; the producers Orion's doubts; screen tests etc., and getting the part; on not being an overnight success; her next single, 'Like a Virgin', and its video, including an encounter with a lion; her plans for the next year, including touring; aspects of her personality: eroticism, vulnerability, snottiness, and how she can be wooed.
File format: mp3; file size: 40.3mb, interview length: 41' 57" sound quality: ** (background noise)
Transcript of audio interview by David A. Keeps, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Fall 1984
This is a transcript of David's audio interview with Madonna. Listen to the audio of this conversation. ...
Madonna: "I always acted like a star even before I was one!"
Interview by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 17 January 1985
And that time has certainly come. She's had massive hits both sides of the ocean, and she's started making movies and claiming she'd "like to ...
Report and Interview by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 4 April 1985
THESE BOYS ARE BUSY. TWO YEARS AGO THEY WERE NUMBER ONE WITH 'CANDY GIRL'. NOW THEY'RE BACK WITH 'MR TELEPHONE MAN' AND 'COOL IT NOW', ...
The Kane Gang: Lowdown hoedown
Interview by David A. Keeps, Creem, June 1986
"SARCASM IS the lowest form of wit," the Kane Gang's singer/lyricist Martin Brammer warns me. Uh-oh! Howza wiseguy CREEM hack supposed to comport hisself when ...
Interview by David A. Keeps, Creem, July 1986
WHAT WOULD you call a band that wears a lot of black leather, sings about 'Masters And Servants' and claims that "God has a sick ...
RuPaul: The World According to RuPaul
Interview by David A. Keeps, Details, March 1993
Singer, supermodel, and trans-American success story ...
Interview by David A. Keeps, Details, April 1993
Duran Duran spent one half of the '80s as international pop playboys and the other half surviving the experience. Will success spoil them again? David ...
Chelsea, Billy Idol: Billy Idol (1993)
Interview by David A. Keeps, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1993
Billy Idol talks about first getting his hair dyed; his itinerant upbringing; moving to America, and how he feels about it; William Broad vs. Billy Idol, and his beliefs; his motorcycle crash; the sacrifices of celebrity; his conviction for hitting a woman; being attacked, and his scars; his L.A. social life, and awards ceremonies; his appearance, and how he dresses; getting into acting... and what would be the ideal Billy Idol sandwich.
File format: mp3; file size: 70.2mb, interview length: 1h 13' 06" sound quality: ***
Tommy Lee, Mötley Crüe: Pamela Anderson: Secrets and Lies
Interview by David A. Keeps, The Face, October 1996
Pamela Anderson Lee is the most famous woman; under 30 on earth. It is commonly suggested that she won such fame despite being none too ...
No Doubt, Gwen Stefani: No Doubt: Gwen in doubt
Interview by David A. Keeps, Details, April 1997
GWEN STEFANI'S SURVIVED A FRIEND'S SUICIDE, A FLOP RECORD, AND A BAND THAT WAS SET ON SELF-DESTRUCT. NOW SHE'S AN INTERNATIONAL SEX SYMBOL WITH A ...
Report and Interview by David A. Keeps, Details, July 1997
MTV listens to them, so does your local DJ. From the Go-Go's to Beck, KROQ has always played tomorrow's hits today. David A. Keeps goes ...
Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson: Janet Jackson: Janet Unzipped
Interview by David A. Keeps, The Face, December 1997
ALL LITTLE JANET WANTED TO DO WAS CLIMB TREES, BANG DRUMS AND "SCRAPE MY ASS". IN SHORT, SHE WANTED TO BE HER BROTHERS. THEN LITTLE ...
Crazy Town: U are now entering Crazy Town
Interview by David A. Keeps, Rolling Stone, 2 August 2001
Population: Six metalheads hung up on hip-hop, tattoos drugs, crime, rehab and surviving their stint on this summer's Ozzfest ...
Annie Lennox: How did Annie Lennox beat depression and sing again?
Interview by David A. Keeps, The Word, July 2003
THERE'S A KNOCK on the door of Annie Lennox's Victorian suite in Boulder, Colorado. ...
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