Dayna Keyes, daughter of The Doobie Brothers’s drummer Keith Knudsen, has grown up around rock n’ roll royalty but never thought much of it.
Sitting on a drum riser coloring, having your elementary school teacher gawk at your famous dad, and having your teenage friends beg you for tickets are all part of the territory for Dayna. However, to her, Keith was just her dad and to her, his music wasn’t what made him great.
Over the years however, Dayna started to see what everyone else saw: A monster talent who could not only blow the crowd away with his technical abilities but also a musician’s musician who could drum perfectly in time with another drummer.
In 2020 the world of rock would recognize his and his band’s talent as well as The Doobie Brothers were announced as being a part of this year’s class of inductees. Unfortunately, Keith Knudsen passed away in 2005 and would never know exactly to which heights the band had climbed.
“What really bums me out is I just wish I could call my dad, you know, and tell him ‘congratulations’ and ask him how he feels about this,” Keyes said tearing up.
“But the thing is he was never an awards kinda guy. I feel like it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, I know he would have been honored…it’s a big deal, but not the biggest. I think what matters to all of the band most is their families.”
Among The Doobie Brother’s 2020 peers are Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., and T. Rex. The ceremony will take place on May 2, 2020 at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.