Keith Christopher, a singer/songwriter, actor and AIDS activist, made television history when he appeared as the first openly gay, HIV-positive performer to portray an HIV-positive gay character on NBC's Another World.

He was next invited to create the role of Wyatt Sanders, a gay HIV counselor, on the daytime drama The Guiding Light. This recurring role led to an NBC News profile by Tom Brokaw, and interview segments on Entertainment Tonight, the PBS show In the Life, Fox's TV Nation and appearances on several network television talk shows and radio shows.

Christopher dedicated the last years of his life to being a spokesperson for Gay Men's Health Crisis. At GMHC's 1997 AIDS Walk in Central Park, Christopher was a keynote speaker, along with Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Rosie Perez. He spoke of his long struggle with AIDS and his body's inability to benefit from the newest drug treatments.

In 1994 Christopher was honored by Billboard Magazine with a Certificate of Achievement award for his song "Smiling in the Dark." His song "One People" was commissioned by the United Nations Environmental Project, and "Pieces of Lives" was written for and performed by Christopher at the first display of the Names Project Memorial Quilt in New York City. At the time of his death in 1998 he was nearing completion of his first CD, Naked Truth, posthumously released by Significant Other Records.

Keith Christopher died of AIDS in New York at the age of 40 on February 23, 1998.

—Joseph Dalton

WORKS:

see Discography

OTHER WORKS / UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
None. Christopher's complete musical output is represented on the posthumous CD release Naked Truth. The instrumental and backup tracks of some songs on this release were completed after Christopher's death.

WRITINGS:
"New Hope...But Not For Me: Feel Poisoned by Protease? Don't Feel Alone" by Keith Christopher, The Volunteer (in which Christopher describes the inefficacy of protease inhibitors for his condition).

DISCOGRAPHY:
Naked Truth
Significant Other Records SO-981 (1988)
(Music and lyrics by Keith Christopher unless otherwise noted)
    Heal Me
    Someday Soon (music & lyrics: Keith Christopher/Michael Edwin)
    Living On The Edge (music & lyrics: Keith Christopher/John Wager)
    Rain Came Down (music: Keith Christopher, Sari Goetz; lyrics: Keith Christopher)
    Dance/Don't Dance (music: Keith Christopher, Jeff Franzel; lyrics: Keith Christopher)
    All That Your Heart Can Hold
    Secret Dreamer
    Naked Truth
    Smiling In The Dark
    Lessons From My Father
    One People
    Pieces Of Lives (music: Keith Christopher, John Boswell; lyrics: Keith Christopher)
    You Can Fly Now
    A Land Whose Name Is Peace (music & lyrics: Robert Lindsey Nassif)
Keith Christopher, lead and backing vocals - John Boswell, piano - Jeff Franzel, piano - Frank Debretti, guitar - Shane Faber, guitar, synthesizers, programming/sampling - Keith Christopher, programming/sampling.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• "AIDS Awareness on TV: Actor Becomes Spokesman Via Daytime Soap" by Gregory Montoya, Out Front, August 9, 1995.

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
ASCAP

RESOURCES:
Significant Other Records
P.O. Box 1341 Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113
http://members.aol.com/sigothinc/
SigOthInc@aol.com

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Ed O'Brien (companion)
18 West 71st Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 721-3365

OTHER CONTACTS:
Richard Dworkin
c/o Significant Other Records
(see Resources)