Leon Russell, R.I.P.

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Leon Russell, Hit Maker and Musicians’ Musician, Dies at 74

By JON PARELESNOV. 13, 2016




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Leon Russell performing in 2010 in New York. CreditChad Batka for The New York Times Leon Russell, the longhaired, scratchy-voiced pianist, guitarist, songwriter and bandleader who moved from playing countless recording sessions to making hits on his own, died on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn. He was 74.
His death was announced on his website, which said that he had died in his sleep but gave no specific cause.
Mr. Russell had significant health difficulties over the past five years. In 2010, he underwent surgery for a brain fluid leak and was treated for heart failure. In July of this year, Mr. Russell suffered a heart attack, and was scheduled for further surgery, according to a news release from the historical society of Oklahoma, his home state.
With a top hat on his head, hair well past his shoulders, a long beard, an Oklahoma drawl in his voice and his fingers splashing two-fisted barrelhouse piano chords, Mr. Russell cut a flamboyant figure in the early 1970s. He led Joe Cocker’s band Mad Dogs & Englishmen, appeared at George Harrison’s 1971 Concert for Bangladesh and had hits of his own, including “Tight Rope.” His songs also became hits for others, among them “Superstar” (written with Bonnie Bramlett) for the Carpenters, “Delta Lady” for Joe Cocker and “This Masquerade” for George Benson. More than 100 acts have recorded “A Song for You,” a song Mr. Russell said he wrote in 10 minutes.


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By the time Mr. Russell released his first solo album in 1970, he had already played on hundreds of songs as one of the top studio musicians in Los Angeles. Mr. Russell was in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound Orchestra, and he played sessions for Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, the Ventures and the Monkees, among many others. He is heard on “Mr. Tambourine Man” by the Byrds, “A Taste of Honey” by Herb Alpert, “Live With Me” by the Rolling Stones and all of the Beach Boys’ early albums, including “Pet Sounds.”
The music Mr. Russell made on his own put a scruffy, casual surface on rich musical hybrids, interweaving soul, country, blues, jazz, gospel, pop and classical music. Like Willie Nelson, who would collaborate with him, and Ray Charles, whose 1993 recording of “A Song for You” won a Grammy Award, Mr. Russell made a broad, sophisticated palette of American music sound down-home and natural.
After Mr. Russell’s peak of popularity in the 1970s, he shied away from self-promotion and largely set aside rock, though he kept on performing. But he was prized as a musicians’ musician, collaborating with Elvis Costello and Elton John among others. In 2011, after making a duet album with Mr. John, “The Union,”he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the ceremony, Mr. John called him “the master of space and time”and added, “He sang, he wrote and he played just how I wanted to do it.”
Leon Russell was born Claude Russell Bridges in Lawton, Okla., on April 2, 1941. An injury to his upper vertebrae at birth caused a slight paralysis on his right side that would shape his music, since a delayed reaction time forced him to think ahead about what his right hand would play. “It gave me a very strong sense of duality,” he said last year in a Public Radio International interview.
He started classical piano lessons when he was 4 years old, played baritone horn in his high school marching band and also learned trumpet. At 14 he started gigging in Oklahoma; since it was a dry state at the time, he could play clubs without being old enough to drink. Soon after he graduated from high school, Jerry Lee Lewis hired him and his band to back him on tour for two months.
He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1950s and found club work and then studio work; he also learned to play guitar. Calling himself Leon Russell — the name Leon came from a friend who lent him an ID so he could play California club dates while underage — he drew on both his classical training and his Southern roots, playing everything from standards to surf-rock, from million-sellers to pop throwaways. He was glimpsed on television as a member of the house band for the prime-time rock show “Shindig!,” the Shindogs, in the mid-1960s.
In 1967, he built a home studio and began working with the guitarist Marc Benno as the Asylum Choir, which released its debut album in 1968. He also started a record label, Shelter, in 1969 with the producer Denny Cordell. Mr. Russell drew more recognition as a co-producer, arranger and musician on Joe Cocker’s second album, “Joe Cocker!,” which included Mr. Russell’s song “Delta Lady.”
When Mr. Cocker’s Grease Band fell apart days before an American tour, Mr. Russell assembled the big, boisterous band — including three drummers and a 10-member choir — that was named Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Its 1970 double live album and a tour film became a showcase for Mr. Russell as well as Mr. Cocker; the album reached No. 2 on the Billboard album chart. Mr. Russell also released his first solo album in 1970; it included “A Song for You” and had studio appearances from Mr. Cocker, Eric Clapton, two Beatles and three Rolling Stones. But Mr. Russell’s second album, “Leon Russell and the Shelter People,” fared better commercially; it reached No. 17 on the Billboard chart.
Mr. Russell had his widest visibility as the 1970s began. He played the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden with George Harrison and Bob Dylan; he produced and played on Mr. Dylan’s songs “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and “Watching the River Flow.” He toured with the Rolling Stones and with his own band. His third album, “Carney,” went to No. 2 with the hit “Tight Rope.” In 1973 his “Leon Live” album reached the Top 10; he also recorded his first album of country songs under the pseudonym Hank Wilson. The fledgling Gap Band, also from Oklahoma, backed Mr. Russell in 1974 on his album “Stop All That Jazz.” His 1975 album “Will O’ the Wisp” included what would be his last Top 20 pop hit, “Lady Blue.”
In 1979 Mr. Russell married Janet Lee Constantine, who survives him along with six children: Blue, Teddy Jack, Tina Rose, Sugaree, Honey and Coco.
For the next decades, Mr. Russell delved into various idioms, mostly recording for independent labels. He toured and recorded with the New Grass Revival, adding his piano and voice to their string-band lineup. He made more country albums as Hank Wilson. He recorded blues, Christmas songs, gospel songs and instrumentals. In 1992 the songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby, who had long cited Mr. Russell’s influence, sought to rejuvenate Mr. Russell’s rock career by producing the album “Anything Can Happen,” but it drew little notice. Mr. Russell continued to tour for die-hard fans who called themselves Leon Lifers.
A call in 2009 from Elton John, whom Mr. Russell had supported in the early 1970s, led to the making of “The Union”— which also had guest appearances by Neil Young and Brian Wilson — and a 10-date tour together in 2010. Mr. Russell also sat in on Mr. Costello’s 2010 album, “National Ransom.” Then Mr. Russell, who had bought a new bus, returned to the road on his own.

 
Andy..thanks for posting this. I thought this thread would get more love.

This guy was a national treasure. So underrated and ignored.

Just read the final two verses of his most popular song think about the person you love and tell me how perfectly he captures how you feel:

You taught me precious secrets
Of a true love, withholding nothing
You came out in front and I was hiding
Now I'm so much better
And if my words don't come together
Listen to the melody
Cuz my love is in there hiding

I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for my life
You' re a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singing this song to you

RIP Leon.

Thanks.
 
I thought more people would respond but I guess they're all hung up
with Dylan. :uncomfortableness:
His duets with Joe Cocker are classics.
 
I was still back listening to Leonard Cohen. I can only process so many deaths in one week.

You are right about Leon and Joe

 
Leon was indeed a national treasure. The often used phrase 'he played with everyone' is more accurate about Leon Russell than anyone else I can think of. Whether a session player, song writer or band leader his music made a big impact on many lives. His music will live on. Grateful to have seen him at the old Harvard Sq. House of Blues in the 90s. That ultimate band in heaven just gained an amazing piano player. Godspeed Leon.
 
Come On In My Kitchen - George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell and Ringo Starr

From a rehearsal for the Concert for Bangladesh

 
"...and when my life is over
Remember when we were together..."
We heard Ray Charles sing this beauty in the auditorium of the Martha's Vineyard High School at a fundraiser in the early 90's. After the song, he credited Leon Russell with writing one of the most heartfelt songs he'd ever heard, and said Leon sang it better. It was a lovely moment.
 
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