David Kaff, British Actor and Musician Who Played Keyboardist Viv Savage in ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ Dies at 79

David Kaff, a British musician and actor best known for playing keyboardist Viv Savage in the classic 1984 musical mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap has died at 79. The news was announced by Kaff’s bandmates in the metal group Mutual of Alameda’s Wild Kingdom on Sunday (July 13), who wrote on Facebook, “Our brother David Kaffinetti passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday. We are devastated by this event. 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! RIP dear brother.”

Kaff was born David Kaffinetti on April 17, 1946 in the coastal town of Folkenstone in Kent, England and studied classical piano as a child before pivoting to rock in his teens and co-founding the prog rock group Rare Bird. The band was signed to former journalist Tony Stratton Smith’s Charisma Records — home to Genesis, Peter Gabriel, prog legends Hawkwind and the comedy troupe Monty Python — and released five albums on the label between 1969 and 1974, scoring one U.K. singles chart hit with 1970’s moody “Sympathy.”

Though he started out as a serious musician, Kaff made his biggest mark in director Rob Reiner’s beloved send-up of rock pomposity.

Appearing in the satirical film alongside stars and co-writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, Kaff played dopey keyboardist Viv Savage, whose most memorable line comes in the movie’s credits when director Marty DiBergi (Reiner) asks for his philosophy of life. “Have a good time… all the time,” Savage says with a crooked smile of his party-all-the-time credo.

Despite his limited screen time, Kaff got off a number of pithy one-liners in the film that gave fans such iconic bits as an amp that “goes to 11” and the announcement that Tap’s drummer died in a “bizarre gardening accident.” Among them is a scene when the band is billed beneath a puppet act at an amusement park and guitarist David St. Hubins (McKean) asks if Viv can play bandmate Nigel Tufnel’s (Guest) bass line from the group’s legendary triple-bass hit “Big Bottom,” the keyboardist deadpans, “yeah, I got two hands, yeah, I can do it.”

Though according to Rolling Stone, Kaff is not expected to appear in the upcoming sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (Sept. 12), he continued his Tap association over the years by appearing with the group on Saturday Night Live in 1984 and filming a comedic 1990 PSA for the hearing loss group H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education Awareness for Rockers). “Viv Savage of the band Spinal Tap speaks out on hearing loss,” a voiceover says, as Kaff’s Savage cluelessly asks, “what?”

In an 1991 interview with BAM, Kaff said, “I have a great affection for Viv… I played him very close to my heart… just a little dimmer. If people like that character, chances are they’ll like me.” Noting how much fans loved his character, he said they would often write him letters addressed to Viv.

He also described joining the short-lived supergroup Natural Gas with Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and moving to California before getting fired just after the band completed the demo tape that landed them a record deal. He later played piano on Chuck Berry’s 1972 The London Chuck Berry Sessions and wrote songs with the British group Marillion before joining the Oakland rock band Model Citizenz in the 1990s.

Check out “Sympathy” below.