Keister was born in Huntington, West Virginia and grew up in the small southern Ohio town of Portsmouth.
He moved back to Huntington, West Virginia in his senior year of high school where he continued his piano studies with Mary Shepp Mann.
His career flourished and in the late 80's, he composed and produced the musical scores for Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam and Ernest Goes to Camp.
[1] At the request of the late Ahmet Ertegün, Keister moved to New York in 1989 to work for him as a staff producer/arranger at Atlantic Records.
[3] He also produced and played keyboards and synthesizers (Prophet 5, ARP, and others) on the Don Francisco albums "Got To Tell Somebody" (1979) and "The Traveler" (1981).
[4] He has worked with a long list of musicians over the years, including Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, Amy Grant, Michael W Smith and Lou Marini.