Independent producer Scott Putman and director-producer Jeff Stacy have secured rights to saxophonist Bobby Keys‘ rollicking, addictively readable biography Every Night’s a Saturday Night: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Life of Legendary Sax Man Bobby Keys, and intend to release a feature documentary in 2014.
“He’s an icon,” says Putman, “a rock ‘n’ roll lion who’s got so many great stories.” Now touring with the Stones’ 50 & Counting tour, Lubbock, Texas, native Keys started out as a teen, and thanks to drive, talent, big talk and an amazing series of coincidences became a player for Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Marvin Gaye and many more. He was Keith Richards‘ best friend, the soloist on “Brown Sugar,” John Lennon‘s “Lost Weekend” drinking buddy and the man who introduced Carly Simon to Mick Jagger (and got him to sing on “You’re So Vain”). Keys once filled a bathtub with Champagne to lure a French model to join him and drove through a hotel’s plate-glass window with Keith Moon.
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“At the risk of sounding like Forrest Gump, my life’s been just like opening up a box of chocolates and having a variety of everything,” Keys writes in his book. Producers have shot hours of conversations with Keys, Billie Gibbons, Dr. John, Bobby Whitlock, Ian MacLagen, Stanley Booth, Robert Greenfield, Jim Price, Joe Ely, Jim Keltner, Edward James Olmos, Seymour Cassel, and many rock luminaries have agreed to testify about Keys’ wild life and work.
“Everyone ‘s happy to talk about Bobby,” says Stacy. “After spending time with him, you come away with a feeling that you’ve been with the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll past, present and future. You walk away with a smile — and sometimes a hangover.”
As B.B. King said to Keys after he nailed the sax part on “Caledonia” in one take, “That’s just fine, son. That’s just fine.”
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