“Have a good time… all the time” — farewell to a cult rock icon.
David Kaff — best known as Viv Savage, the ever-grinning keyboardist in This Is Spinal Tap — has died peacefully in his sleep, aged 79.
Kaff, who played one of the most memorably low-key characters in Rob Reiner’s legendary 1984 rock mockumentary, was also an actual prog-rock player.
Before going full fictional with Spinal Tap, he was a founding member of Rare Bird, who scored a UK Top 30 hit in 1970 with “Sympathy” and helped lay the groundwork for the Charisma Records era.
Spinal Tap fans will remember Kaff’s deadpan delivery of lines like “Quite exciting, this computer magic!” and his signature mantra: “Have a good time… all the time.” He even gigged with the band for a short spell post-film, including a Saturday Night Live appearance — but quietly stepped away from Tap not long after.
His later years saw him still making music, playing with outfits like Model Citizenz and Mutual of Alameda’s Wild Kingdom — the latter of whom broke the news of his passing on Facebook, calling him “our brother” with “a kind word and a quick wit that would slay you where you stand.”
While Kaff won’t appear in the upcoming Spinal Tap sequel due in September, his legacy in both real and fictional rock circles lives on.
A man of few words — but always the right ones.
