Olaf Keil

Olaf Keil was the founder and lead guitarist of New Zealand rock and roll group The Keil Isles, playing on their pre-1963 recordings on the TANZA and Viking record labels. He was also a custom guitar and banjo builder for Fender. He is also the creator of the Keil Midi. For a period of time he also managed and took care of the booking for the Keil Isles.

Biography

He was born Apia, Western Samoa in 1934. When he was young, as early as ten years of age, he began making his ukuleles out of coconut shells. He had a keen interest in electronics, photography and woodworking. In 1951 when he was 17, he left in Western Samoa to got to Fiji for a six-month photography course. The next year he arrived in New Zealand.

He began his musical career by playing in his uncle's 14 piece band and would back his cousin Freddie Keil on rock and roll songs when asked to. He taught his younger brother to play guitar and in 1956 he and his younger brothers formed the Keil Isles. The Keil Isles would end up becoming very popular and Olaf and the rest of the group would tour New Zealand with Cliff Richard and The Shadows in 1961. Olaf Keil was considered to be a brilliant musician and he could replicate the guitar solos that were heard on overseas records. With his technical knowledge he was able to successfully design and build the first echo unit in New Zealand and attempting to copy that Elvis Presley instrumental sound that was heard on his records. This gave the Keil Isles an edge to compete with overseas acts from the UK and the US.