Music, religion was always key to longtime Memphis musician

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Dana Key

Memphis Christian rock pioneer Dana Key, one-half of the best-selling duo DeGarmo & Key, founder of two important gospel music labels and founder and pastor of The Love of Christ Church in Cordova, died Sunday night at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville. He was 56.

Key, who had a history of blood clots, was taken to the hospital at about 8p.m. after complaining of pain in his legs and died at about 9:45 p.m. said his daughter, Scottie Key.

Dana Key

DeGarmo & Key -- comprising (from left) Eddie DeGarmo, Dana Key, Greg Morrow and Tommy Cathey -- was one of the biggest acts on the contemporary Christian music scene.

"Just a week ago we played in Asheville, N.C., at a bikers' convention," said Eddie DeGarmo, Key's musical partner of 30-plus years. "Dana was doing good. He played good and sang good and had a great time doing it. So this is just an incredible shock that all this happened so quickly."

A lifelong Memphian, Key grew up in Whitehaven in the shadow of Graceland, and Elvis was one of his earliest musical heroes. As a first-grader at Graves Elementary School, he met DeGarmo, with whom he would forge a lifelong partnership rooted in their Christian faith. In the fifth grade, the pair formed their first band, a secular group.

"(Key's) very first concert was Jimi Hendrix, and he sat in the front row," said Key's friend Charles "Buddy" Abbott, a bandmate in the high school group Globe. "He used to break out at our shows, and you'd think Hendrix was playing. He was playing behind his back and with his teeth and all that."

While still students at Hillcrest High School, Key and DeGarmo were writing and recording for Willie Mitchell's Hi Records. The label put out a couple of records by Globe, but in their senior year, the two found their Christian faith and broke from the band.

With DeGarmo on keyboards and Key on guitar and singing, the two began to forge a new career as Christian rock artists, which was a virtually unheard of thing in the early 1970s.

"Back then, that music was just gaining in popularity and acceptance," said John Fry of Ardent Studios, where DeGarmo & Key made most of their records. "In fact there were a lot of people who thought if you were playing drums and an electric guitar you were playing the devil's music."

DeGarmo & Key's big break came in 1977 when, with the help of a demo recording made by producer Jim Dickinson, they signed with singer Pat Boone's Christian label, Lamb & Lion.

Over the next 17 years the pair became one of the biggest acts on the burgeoning contemporary Christian music scene. They recorded a dozen studio albums and were nominated for seven Grammy Awards and 17 Dove Awards, which are presented by the Gospel Music Association.

In 1987, DeGarmo & Key formed Christian label ForeFront, which would ultimately lead to their split in 1994.

In 1996, ForeFront was bought by EMI Christian Music Group in Nashville, where DeGarmo still works today.

After the split, Key, who had recorded the solo record The Journey: Walking with Jesus in 1990, resumed his own recording career, releasing Part of the Mystery in 1995. He also helped start a new Christian music label, Ardent Records, with Fry.

In recent years, Key was more focused on his faith. After running his own Sunday school class at Germantown Baptist Church for several years, in 2002 he founded The Love of Christ Church, which meets at the Woodland Hills Event Center.

Key reunited in 2007 with DeGarmo and bandmates Greg Morrow and Tommy Cathey when the group received the Vision Award at the 29th Annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards. Since then, the band played a handful of times.

Key is survived by his wife, Anita, and three children, Scottie, Andrew and Eli.

A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Thursday at TLC Church, 10000 Woodland Hill Dr.

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