Keith (singer)
American vocalist
James Barry Keefer (born May 17, 1949), known professionally as Keith, is an American vocalist. His best-known song was "98.6" which reached No. 7 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. He legally changed his name to Bazza Keefer in 1988, in memory of his mother.
Early life
Keith was born James Barry Keefer on May 17, 1949, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Career
Early days
Keefer earned his first recording contract with Columbia Records. When Jerry Ross moved across to Mercury Records he took Keefer with him, and the singer soon appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with his 1966 solo single, "Ain't Gonna Lie".
Chart success
He is best remembered for his one-hit wonder hit "98.6"; which was listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 14 weeks in 1966-7, peaking at number 7 for two weeks, and finishing at number 79 on the 1967 year-end chart. It also peaked at number 6 in Canada, number 24 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 25 in Australia. It sold over one million copies worldwide, earning a gold disc.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1738028. VIAF identifies the subject as 14001399. The Library of Congress control number is n94061426. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1966, 1988 and 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “Keith (singer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.