Richard Swift, bassist of the Ohio indie outfit The Black Keys, died yesterday (3 July) from an undisclosed illness.
His death was confirmed via Facebook last night. The post reads: “And all the angels sing Que Sera Sera Richard Ochoa Swift March 16, 1977 – July 3, 2018″. Last month, a GoFundMe page was set up to cover his medical bills after he was admitted to hospital.
The singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer was born in California into a musical quaker family. He grew up in Minnesota, Oregon and Utah before moving back to Southern California to pursue music, in which he led a prolific career as a self-taught musician.
Aside from his work with The Black Keys, Swift was a former member of The Shins, from 2011 to 2016, and The Arc. In 2005, he released his first solo LP The Novelist / Walking Without Effort, in which he played all of the instruments and handled the sound engineering. His last solo album was 2009’s Atlantic Ocean.
Swift was also the founder, owner and engineer of his own recording studio, National Freedom, in Cottage Grove, Oregon. As a producer, he worked with various artists including Foxygen, Sharon Van Etten and Pure Bathing Culture.
Dan Auerbach, guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, has paid tribute to Swift. Read his post below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkxX-H3BkNl/?utm_source=ig_embed
