When Erin Keller announced she would enter end-of-life care in June, the jazz vocalist and musician threw a big, backyard party at her North Kansas City home. More than 100 friends, family and revelers from the local Mardi Gras scene gathered to celebrate her life.
“I want to say that you guys are a rowdy bunch and that’s why I love you,” Keller said, to cheers from the crowd. “I love you so much, and I will never forget you.”
Keller, aided by her friend Roger Guibor-MacBride, and caregiver Tyra Prosser, greeted the crowd dressed in a sparkly golden cap and an iridescent cape. Keller was serenaded by the Dirty Force Brass Band.
The party was Kansas City’s version of the second line, the New Orleans custom of a lively brass band parade held after milestone events like weddings and funerals.
“The second line tradition — outdoor parades for funerals, especially — are not a quiet, somber event by any means,” said sousaphonist and bandleader Rosie O'Brien, who met Keller parading in Kansas City.
“Loud public joy is a very important facet of celebrating someone's place in a community,” O’Brien said.
Keller died on Thursday at 44, after a long battle with colon cancer.
Her music transcended genre, weaving together influences from classical, opera, rock and folk. Kansas City bass player Jeff Harshbarger remembered Keller for her unique sound, rooted in jazz.
“There's no one on Earth that sounds like Erin Keller,” Harshbarger said. “You know immediately who it is, and you're very thankful you're hearing it. There's no one on the planet that does what she does.”
At various times in her career, Keller performed with the Grammy-Award winning Kansas City Chorale. Keller also worked as a featured soloist with Owen Cox Dance Ensemble, newEar, West African Highlife Ensemble, the Balkan brass band Gora Gora Orkestar, and many local jazz musicians. In 2016, Keller released the album “Distracted,” a collaboration with The James Ward Band.
Kelly Gazlay first met Keller at the popular Crossroads hangout for artists YJ’s Snack Bar, which is now closed. Keller used to spend hours there.
“She is willing to give her time and energy at any moment to anyone who asks her — and she's always up for a good time too,” Gazlay said at the June party. “It's hard to watch her go because her energy gives you energy.”
When local musicians faced months of lost gigs during the pandemic, Keller organized live shows at unconventional outdoor venues like the Raj Ma Hall and World Culture KC.
“People show up for musicians here,” Keller told KCUR in 2021. “When we created this atmosphere that was COVID-safe, where it's beautiful outside, you're in the shade, you get to see really great music, people really responded because they understood that they actually need it in their lives, in order to not lose their minds in really difficult times.”
Keller, originally from Waukee, Iowa, spent her childhood singing with the Des Moines Children’s Choir. In high school, she performed in Iowa’s All-State Choir, and she earned a voice performance degree from UMKC’s Conservatory of Music in 2002. Then, Keller earned a master’s in music education from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Keller’s training as a singer and an educator led her to found in 2024 Golden Spirit Children’s Choirs, an after school program designed to help children express themselves through vocal music, movement and creative play. Keller wrote that singing was formative for her.
“I sang in a children’s choir growing up, and it was hugely transformational to me,” Keller said in a statement on the nonprofit’s website.
‘The funniest, kindest, filthiest person I know’
After her cancer diagnosis in 2016, Keller continued to perform in live shows while receiving multiple rounds of chemotherapy treatments.
Keller had a wicked sense of humor throughout her ordeal with cancer. Jeff Harshbarger has vivid memories of a party she threw in 2021, while in remission. As a jokey party favor, Keller handed out colostomy bags full of Tootsie Rolls.
At what turned out to be her final concert, at The Ship on Jan. 9, 2025, Keller sang jazz standards, gospel choral music and a selection of original songs.
“We're all real fortunate to have been around it and to be in her orbit for a little bit,” Harshbarger said. “The funniest, kindest, filthiest person I know, in all the best ways.”
At Keller’s party in June, Roger Guibor-MacBride, dressed in a Navy officer’s hat and a white suit, entertained attendees with a baby raccoon perched on his shoulder. He said the number of people who showed up was a testament to Keller’s impact.
“The second-most important day in your life is when this day comes,” Guibor-MacBride said. “One of our dearest is going to go join that big chorus, so we want to make sure she knows how much she's loved, and the inspiration that she's been as she's fought these battles in her life.”
