Bob Dylan Band Member Dead at 83

Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival remains the most controversial of his career. A key part of that show, Dylan's keyboardist Barry Goldberg, has died at the age of 83. 

Goldberg died Jan. 22 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to People. He worked for years as a songwriter and keyboardist and collaborated with some of the biggest artists in the industry like Leonard Cohen, Rod Stewart, Steve Milller, the Ramones, and Stephen Stills. 

In 1965, he cemented his place in music history playing the organ for Bob Dylan at the singer's infamous Newport Folk Festival performance. Dylan upset many fans who idolized him as a folk musician when he began playing with electric instruments. Goldberg, for his part, marveled at the crowd dynamics from the stage that day. 

"At the beginning, it was just a gig," he plainly told Rolling Stone back in 2013. "Bob said, 'You want to play with me tonight?' I wasn’t a folkie or knew how serious those people were. We started doing our thing, playing that song [‘Like a Rolling Stone’]. At the end, there were boos but also cheers. They felt betrayed by him. But Bob was creating a new kind of music, and after we were done, everyone knew how special it was."

Related: Rare Bob Dylan Typewritten Lyric Just Fetched $508K For One Song

After the festival, he went on to play the organ on Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels’ 1966 hit "Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly," which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also co-wrote songs like "It’s Not The Spotlight" for Rod Stewart and "I’ve Got To Use My Imagination" for Gladys Knight & The Pips. In 1969, he and Dylan reunited to perform with Doug Sahm and The Band at Woodstock. 

Goldberg went on to release one self-titled album, produced by Dylan himself, in 1974, marking the only time in history the music icon has produced for another musician. Goldberg later produced Dylan's 1990 People Get Ready album.