Keith Morris (born September 18, 1955)[1] is an American singer and songwriter known for his role as frontman of the hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Off!.

Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, he formed Black Flag at the age of 21 with guitarist Greg Ginn and performed on the band's 1979 debut EP Nervous Breakdown.

Shortly after leaving Black Flag in 1979, he formed the Circle Jerks with guitarist Greg Hetson; the band released seven albums between 1980 and 1995 and have broken up and reformed on numerous occasions.

Jerry later opened a bait shop in the 1970s and struck up a friendship with jazz record producer Ozzie Cadena (both men's sons, Keith and Dez, later became singers in Black Flag).

[7] One of his co-workers at the shop was Bill Stevenson, a Mira Costa student eight years Morris' junior who would also go on to be a member of Black Flag.

[8] Morris and his friends spent their spare time hanging out by the Strand under Hermosa Beach pier, where they took drugs: "I'd get off work, and we'd get up to trouble," he later recalled, "smoking angel dust, snorting elephant tranquilizers.

"[12][13] Morris stated in his autobiography he had also become disillusioned with what he saw as Black Flag's "militaristic" approach to practicing, despite not getting many shows at the time, and being left "out of the loop" on decisions for the band.

[14] After leaving Black Flag in 1979, Morris founded the Circle Jerks, along with former Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson.

In contrast to the top-down decision-making of Black Flag, the Circle Jerks agreed on collective decisions for material and performances.

[15] Morris and the band increased their global popularity after being featured in the Penelope Spheeris 1981 documentary The Decline of Western Civilization.

[16] Cited as one of the most important hardcore punk groups, the Circle Jerks were active until 1990, when Hetson left the band to continue playing guitar and release a number of albums with Bad Religion.

Morris appeared as the DJ for the West Coast Punk Rock station Channel X in the video game Grand Theft Auto V released on September 17, 2013.