Editing Fred Neil (section)

==Later life and death==
Neil left Woodstock in the mid-1970s and spent his remaining decades on the shores of southern Florida, involved in the Dolphin Project. After a guest appearance with [[Stephen Stills]] at New York City's [[Madison Square Garden]] in 1971, Neil began a long retirement, performing in public mostly at gigs for the Dolphin Project in Coconut Grove. He performed with [[John Sebastian]] on harmonica, [[Harvey Brooks (bassist)|Harvey Brooks]] on bass, and Peter Childs on guitar at the [[Montreux Jazz Festival]] in July 1975.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.montreuxsounds.com/detail2006.php?fiche=299|title=Montreux Sounds official website|date=May 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524104821/http://www.montreuxsounds.com/detail2006.php?fiche=299 |access-date=June 23, 2023|archive-date=May 24, 2006 }}</ref>  [[Michael Lang (producer)|Michael Lang]], one of the organizers of the 1969 [[Woodstock]] Festival and a [[habitué]] of Coconut Grove in the 1970s, tried unsuccessfully to release this as a live LP.  In an ensemble called the Rolling Coconut Revue, which included Sebastian, Brooks, Childs, and pianist [[Richard Bell (musician)|Richard Bell]], Neil played at the Save the Whales benefit concert in Tokyo, April 8–10, 1977.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Neff|title=That's the Bag I'm In|pages=250–52}}</ref> Neil's last public performance was in 1981, at an outdoor concert at the Old Grove Pub in Coconut Grove, where he joined Buzzy Linhart for one song and stayed onstage for the rest of the set.

Many of Neil's 1970s recordings remain unissued, including a 1973 session with [[Quicksilver Messenger Service]] guitarist [[John Cipollina]] and some Woodstock recordings with guitarist [[Arlen Roth]]. According to Ric O'Barry, Neil recorded two albums of cover songs in 1977 and 1978 that [[Columbia Records]] did not release.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fredneil.com/ric-obarry/ |title=Fred Neil » Ric O'Barry |publisher=www.fredneil.com |access-date=December 4, 2010 }}</ref> O'Barry said he produced the first of the recordings in [[Miami]], and that Neil was joined by Pete Childs on guitar, John Sebastian on harmonica, and Harvey Brooks on bass. The second album was more fully arranged, with Neil accompanied by the New York session band [[Stuff (band)|Stuff]] and some old friends, including [[Slick Aguilar]]. The songs on these albums were written by [[Bobby Charles]], [[John Braheny]], Bobby Ingram, [[Billy Joe Shaver]], and [[Billy Roberts]] (composer of "[[Hey Joe]]").

Through the 1980s, Neil retreated from music and public life, living in Florida. In June 1987, in Miami, he was involved in an accident that killed Christine Purcell, his girlfriend, when she hotwired her camper truck, which had a defective starter, and called for Neil to start the vehicle. Apparently she had not put it fully into neutral or set a parking brake, and the wheels ran over her, causing "massive blunt trauma". Afterward, Neil moved from Coconut Grove, visiting New York, travelling to Mexico and Texas, then, by the early 1990s, relocating to coastal Oregon. In 1996, he returned east, to the Florida Keys.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Neff|title=That's the Bag I'm In|pages=267–81}}</ref> In 1998, he remarked on a sore on his face that he claimed was a spider bite. It was the first sign of a later-diagnosed squamous-cell carcinoma, for which he received radiation treatment and surgery. The cancer returned in 2001, and he was scheduled to begin chemotherapy on July 16, but he was found dead on July 7. He was reported to have died of natural causes, and to have left a written will on his nightstand.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Neff|title=That's the Bag I'm In|pages=287, 291, 295–98}}</ref>