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It’s a tragic day for music followers, as an icon of rock and roll has handed away.
Garth Hudson — a founding member of the legendary rock group The Band — has handed away on the age of 87.
A multi-instrumentalist who performed keyboards, saxophone, and accordion on a slew of iconic albums, Hudson’s contributions might be heard on a few of the most beloved songs of the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s.
Garth Hudson’s Reason for Dying
Information of his passing comes courtesy of the executor of his property, Jan Haus, who spoke with the Toronto Star (by way of The Guardian).
Hudson handed away quietly at a nursing residence in Woodstock, New York.
Haus didn’t present a reason for demise.
A Towering Legacy
It’s troublesome to overstate The Band’s affect on generations of musicians.
Whereas they have been nonetheless often known as the Hawks, members Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm noticed Hudson carry out and satisfied him to affix the group. (Hudson had had his coronary heart set on turning into a music trainer.)
It was after they have been employed as Bob Dylan’s backing band that the younger musicians started to stake their place in rock historical past.
Within the mid-’60s The Band helped Dylan outline a brand new stage in his profession as he left behind the folksy acoustic sound of his earliest albums in favor of electrified rock. (The method was not too long ago depicted within the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.)
In 1968, The Band got here into their very own with their debut album Music From Huge Pink.
Containing such iconic tracks as “The Weight” and “I Shall Be Launched,” Huge Pink was met with rave evaluations and spectacular gross sales. In 2004, it scored a spot on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
In 1976, The Band carried out a farewell live performance at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
The present turned the idea for the long-lasting Martin Scorsese-directed documentary The Final Waltz, thought of by many to be the best live performance movie ever made.
The Band reformed within the Nineteen Eighties, and so they continued to launch new music till 1998.
By way of all of it, Garth Hudson’s inimitable organ strains added a signature component that was one way or the other each wistfully conventional and hauntingly psychedelic.
He was pre-deceased by bandmates Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Ronnie Hawkins, and Richard Manuel.
Our ideas exit to Hudson’s family members throughout this troublesome time.
