Larry Knechtel: Bassist dies at the age of sixty nine

Larry Knechtel: Bassist dies at the age of sixty nine

Larry Knechtel, the bassist and  keyboardist for '70s soft-rock group Bread, has passed away at the age of sixty nine.

He had a wide-ranging career as a studio musician.

Knechtel took his last breath on Thursday at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Wash.

An official from the hospital refused to disclose the cause of death, but a source has said that he apparently died of a heart attack.

Knechtel played keyboards, bass guitar and harmonica as a member of the Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles studio musicians that included future headliners Glen Campbell and Leon Russell and session drummer Hal Blaine.

He played with Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas and many others.

In 2004, Knechtel had told one of the news agencies: "It just snowballed. I was in the right place at the right time, it was a lot of fun. We were all young. I was making big money and hearing myself on the radio."

The members of the Wrecking Crew were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville in 2007.

Knechtel was born in Bell on Aug. 4, 1940. He first played with Kip Tyler and the Flips and in 1959 joined Duane Eddy, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist. He won a Grammy in 1970 for his arrangement of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. Knechtel also played the piano on that song.

He joined Bread as Robb Royer left after the group's second album, in 1971.

According to singer David Gates, they needed someone to play bass and keyboards and provide a strong instrumental element that they had been lacking. "Larry was just what we needed," he said.

Knechtel played on the Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" album and toured with the group in 2006. He had been living in Yakima since 2003.

Knechtel is survived by his wife- Vickie, son Lonnie and daughter Shelli Kokenge, his mother- Edna Knechtel, brothers Don and Bob Knechtel and three grandchildren.