Wrecking Crew bassist Larry Knechtel dies
Larry Knechtel dies at 69; bassist, keyboardist for ’70s soft-rock group Bread
Knechtel played keyboards and bass with the Wrecking Crew, a group of L.A. studio musicians, before joining Bread in 1971. His arrangement of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ won a Grammy in 1970.
Larry Knechtel, a member of the 1970s soft-rock group Bread, who had a wide-ranging career as a studio musician, has died.
Knechtel died Thursday at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Wash. He was 69. A hospital official would not release a cause of death, but a report in the Yakima Herald-Republic said he apparently suffered 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. Knechtel played with Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas and many others. </em>
