David Kaff, the British actor and musician who played keyboardist Viv Savage in Rob Reiner’s hit 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” died Saturday. He was 79.
His death was announced in a Facebook post by his band Mutual of Alameda’s Wild Kingdom, which didn’t specify a cause or say where Kaff died beyond noting that he “passed away peacefully in his sleep.”
“We are devastated by this event,” the band added in the note. “David always had a kind word and a quick wit that would slay you where you stand. Then he’d make you smile doing it!”
As Savage, Kaff played keyboards in Spinal Tap behind lead singer David St. Hubbins (portrayed by Michael McKean), guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer). Reiner’s film, which followed the band’s introduction in a sketch on the 1979 ABC comedy special “The T.V. Show,” expertly parodied the stylistic excesses of heavy metal — one enduring gag had Tufnel demonstrating that the volume knobs on his Marshall amplifier “go to 11” instead of the usual 10 — and became a cult favorite eventually inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
The movie spawned a soundtrack featuring original songs written and performed by the actors, including “Stonehenge,” “Sex Farm” and “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight.” Kaff performed with Spinal Tap on “Saturday Night Live” after the film’s release but left the band before it made a second album, “Break Like the Wind,” in 1992; he’s not expected to appear in a long-awaited sequel to the movie, “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” due in theaters in September.
Kaff was born David Kaffinetti in 1946 and co-founded the British prog-rock group Rare Bird, which scored a Top 40 hit in the U.K. in 1970 with “Sympathy.” In 1972, he played piano for Chuck Berry at a live gig that was recorded for Berry’s album “The London Chuck Berry Sessions,” which spawned the chart-topping “My Ding-a-Ling.” Information about Kaff’s survivors wasn’t immediately available.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
