Keith O'Conner Murphy

Keith Edward Murphy (b. Peru, November 9, 1944 - ) -- Singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Murphy grew up in Peru, Wabash, and Sweester (close to Marion). While living in Sweester, he graduated from Oak Hill High School. At that time, he took guitar lessons, started his own band, and began songwriting. In 1961, he answered an ad from a band looking for a guitarist. After a meeting, he became of member of the Torkays, whose first paying job was for a birthday party of fifteen-year old Brenda Rock (six years later, his wife Brenda Murphy). He and band mate Jim Aguilar wrote some songs, recorded them on their own as demos, and sought out to make some records. Signed by Stacy Records from Chicago, Murphy, Jim Aguilar and brother Frank Aguilar were sent to the Sam Phillips studio in Nashville to record four songs. In short, a list of A players from Nashville assisted on the songs, and Murphy (then going by Keith O'Conner) sang lead. In the end, two 45s came out of the 1963 recording session, and the song "Cindy Lou" got plenty of radio play on various stations around the country. It also became a Rockabilly collectible and helped land Keith O'Conner Murphy into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Although the Torkays only lasted from 1961 to 1963, Murphy put together another band called Keith Murphy & the Daze, which was together from 1965 to 1968. All from the Marion area, the other band members were John Asher (lead guitar), Phil Fosnough (keyboards), Jerry Asher (bass), and Bill Shearer (drums). At King Records in Cincinnati, the Daze recorded a 45 that included "Dirty Ol' Sam" and "Slightly Reminiscent of Her," and it is worth around $1,000. "Slightly Reminiscent of Her" was considered the first psychedelic rock song on King, which was primarily known as an R & B label. Next Murphy focused on his education and graduated from Marion College (now called Indiana Wesleyan University) and earned an MBA from Indiana University. Nonetheless, his creative drive came back several decades later when he wrote the theme song for a TV show Outdoor USA (1999). In 2008, he wrote "Tiddlywink" for a famous German rockabilly group called Black Raven, which has recently served as a touring band for Kris Kristofferson. For his high school's 50-Year reunion, Murphy released a CD called the Class of 1962, which included a combination of his old and new songs.