Larry Knechtel, 69, member of Bread, the Wrecking Crew
LOS ANGELES - Larry Knechtel, a member of the 1970s soft-rock group Bread who had a wide-ranging career as a studio musician, died Thursday at a hospital in Yakima, Wash. The Yakima Herald-Republic said he apparently suffered a heart attack. He was 69.
He played keyboards, bass guitar, and harmonica as a member of the Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles studio musicians whose members included future headliners Glenn Campbell and Leon Russell, along with such landmark session musicians as drummer Hal Blaine.
Mr. Knechtel played with Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Mamas and Papas, and many others.
In 2007, members of the Wrecking Crew were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Mr. Knechtel, who was born in Bell, Calif., first played with Kip Tyler and the Flips and in 1959 joined Duane Eddy, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist. Mr. Knechtel won a Grammy in 1970 for best arrangement accompanying vocalists for “Bridge Over Troubled Water,’’ by Simon and Garfunkel.
In 1971, he joined Bread after the group’s second album, when Robb Royer left.