{{Short description|American author (born 1959)}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{BLP sources|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Keith Elliot Greenberg | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|5|5}} | birth_place = The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S. | occupation = Author, television producer | children = Dylan Greenberg Summer Greenberg | years_active = }}
'''Keith Elliot Greenberg''' (born May 5, 1959) is a New York Times bestselling author <ref>https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/keith-elliot-greenberg/</ref> and television producer.
==Education==
Greenberg went to Bayside High School in Queens, graduating in January 1977. He attended a number of colleges in the New York area.
==Career==
His books include ''Menudo,'' ''To Be the Man,'' ''Erik is Homeless,'' and ''Zack's Story''. In November 2010, Backbeat Books released ''December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died,'' Greenberg's minute-by-minute account of the last day of John Lennon's life.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Meet the author: Keith Elliot Greenberg |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-11914572 |access-date=2024-07-09 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>
He has written for ''WWE'' magazine, ''Playboy'', ''Men's Journal'', ''HuffPost'', ''Maxim'' and ''The Village Voice''. He previously was a producer ''Geraldo at Large'', a prime-time television program on Fox News, ''America's Most Wanted'' and ''Forensic Files''''. Since July 2023, he has been a producer at ''Dateline NBC''.
In December 2010, St. Martin's Press released ''Love Hurts'', the story of the Caffey family murder in rural Texas and Greenberg's second true-crime book for the publisher. His first was ''Perfect Beauty,'' about a murder in Ohio. In 2017, his third St. Martins true-crime book, ''Killing for You'' about a crime in Orange County, California, was released.
In 2015, two of his books were scheduled to be published, ''Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die,'' about the death of James Dean, and the cult that surrounds it (Hal Leonard/Applause Books), and an autobiography of former WWE Champion, The Iron Sheik (ECW Press). The Sheik book was cancelled.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/590881-iron-sheik-book-canceled-billy-gunn-wakes-the-crew-dianna-freezes-out-her-pain-te-extra-videos-roh-announces-tournament-for-vegas-return|title=Iron Sheik Book Canceled, Billy Gunn Wakes the Crew in TE Digital Extra Video, ROH Announces Title Tournament for Vegas Return|first=Nick|last=Paglino|website=WrestleZone|date=June 24, 2015}}</ref> Those who read it have called the book the greatest unpublished treasure in wrestling journalism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ginzburg |first=Evan |date=2023-06-12 |title=My Wild Weekend At The Iron Sheik's House |url=https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/weekend-at-the-iron-sheiks-house/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=Pro Wrestling Stories |language=en-US}}</ref>
In January, 2018, the Toronto Star listed ''Best Seat in the House: My Life in the Jeff Healey Band'', co-authored by Greenberg and former Jeff Healey Band drummer Tom Stephen, as one of its top five music book recommendations. The Toronto Globe and Mail described the book as "240 beer-soaked...and debauched pages."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wheeler|first=Brad|date=2018-12-12 |title=Review: Best Seat in the House throws beloved Canadian musical son Jeff Healey under the bus |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/reviews/article-review-best-seat-in-the-house-throws-beloved-canadian-musical-son/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA}}</ref>
His 2019 book, ''Where You Goin' With That Gun in Your Hand? The True Crime Blotter of Rock 'n' Roll'', published by Backbeat, profiles 21 deaths related to the music industry.
His book, ''Too Sweet: Inside the Indie Wrestling Revolution'', was released in 2020 by ECW Press.
While writing the "Colour Commentary" column in the publication, ''Inside the Ropes Wrestling Magazine'' in 2021, he began writing his next book for ECW Press, ''Follow the Buzzards: Pro Wrestling in the Age of COVID-19''.
ECW Press also published his book: "Bigger, Better, Badder: WrestleMania III and the Year It All Changed" in March 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2025/05/17/wrestlemania-iii-book-is-bigger-than-the-big-event/|title=WrestleMania III book is bigger than the big event|first=Steve|last=Swift|website=Slam Wrestling|date=May 17, 2025}}</ref> In November 2025, Random House released his book chronicling the first five years of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), titled "This Book is All Elite."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.si.com/fannation/wrestling/first-official-history-of-aew-book-reportedly-to-be-released-in-2025|title=First Official History Of AEW Book Reportedly To Be Released In 2025|first=Jon|last=Alba|website=Sports Illustrated|date=May 7, 2025}}</ref>
He regularly appears on A&E's WWE Biography series, where he is listed as "WWE historian."<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHhvAQpmFU4 |title=WWE Historian Keith Elliot Greenberg talks WWE on A&E, WWE Rivals, Stone Cold Steve Austin and more! |date=2023-04-30 |publisher=Knockouts and 3 Counts |access-date=2024-07-09 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
==History== {{BLP sources section|date=December 2018}} His first book, ''Menudo'', was published in 1983 and was the story of Menudo, a 1980s pop band. In the mid-1980s, he began working for ''USA Today'', and other news publishers as well.
In 1990, he wrote the PBS documentary ''The Blue Helmets'', about United Nations peace-keeping.
After writing about professional wrestling for a number of newspapers and magazines, he became a writer, contributor, and reporter for WWE, known formerly as World Wrestling Federation, in 1985. He also co-authored a number of biographies of professional wrestlers, including Freddie Blassie, Ric Flair,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leighty Jr.|first=Robert|title=411's Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair Report |url=http://411mania.com/wrestling/411s-woooooo-becoming-ric-flair-report/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=411MANIA |language=en-US}}</ref> and Superstar Billy Graham.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sandomir |first=Richard |date=2023-05-19 |title=Superstar Billy Graham, Model of the Buff, Blond Wrestler, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/sports/superstar-billy-graham-dead.html |access-date=2024-07-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Olshansky">{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2008/08/09/2008-08-09_hulk_hogan_and_andre_the_giant_sowed_the.html|title=Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant sowed the seeds of a slam at Shea Stadium|last=Olshansky|first=Elliot|date=9 August 2008|work=Daily News|accessdate=26 August 2010}}</ref>
==Personal life== He has two children and lives in Brooklyn, New York.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Keith Elliot Greenberg - Authors, - Lerner Publishing Group |url=https://lernerbooks.com/contributors/13337 |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=lernerbooks.com}}</ref> Keith's oldest child is underground New York filmmaker Dylan Greenberg.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee Oakes|first=Jason|date=2024-03-22 |title=Dylan Mars Greenberg drops "Glow in the Dark" single & vid from latest psychotronic feature film project, premiering at Museum of the Moving Image on 3/30/24 – THE DELI |url=https://thedelimag.com/dylan-mars-greenberg-drops-glow-in-the-dark-single-vid-from-latest-psychotronic-feature-film-project-premiering-at-the-museum-of-the-moving-image-on-3-30-24/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0338544}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenberg, Keith Elliot}} Category:Living people Category:American non-fiction writers Category:American television producers Category:Bayside High School (Queens) alumni Category:1959 births