Died On This Date (March 4, 1986) Richard Manuel / The Band

themusicsover March 4, 2010 2 Comments

Richard Manuel
April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986

Richard Manuel was a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and singer who is best remembered as a long-time member of perhaps the greatest “back up” band in history, the Band.  Manuel first started working with his former Band mates when, at just 17, he joined rockabilly great, Ronnie Hawkins’ backing band, the Hawks.  About two years later, that unit morphed into the Band, which would count Manuel, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson as its most celebrated members.  Manual mostly played piano in the group.  When Bob Dylan decided to go electric during the mid ’60s, it was the Band he called to serve as his backing band.  And when he went on hiatus after being injured in a motorcycle accident in 1967, the Band holed up in a big pink house in Woodstock, New York to record what would become their acclaimed debut album, Music From Big Pink.  Manuel wrote its “Tears of Rage” (with Dylan), “In A Station,” “We Can Talk,” and “Lonesome Suzy.”  The band continued to release respected albums and collaborate with other performers, all culminating in a remarkable “farewell concert” on Thanksgiving Day, 1976.  In front of an unsuspecting audience, the Band gave the show like no other, sharing the stage with such invited guests and admirers as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Dylan, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison and more.  Each artists’ performance was arguably the single greatest of their careers.  The evening was captured on film by Martin Scorsese and released as The Last Waltz, considered one of rock music’s greatest concert films.  Sadly however, Manual was a chronic substance abuser along the way.  His inner demons finally got the best of him when, on March 4, 1986, he hung himself in his hotel room after a show.  Richard Manual was 42 when he died.

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