Richard Manuel

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Richard George Manuel (March 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist best known as a pianist and lead singer of The Band.

He was a member of the original band from 1967 to 1976, as well as the reformed band from 1983 to his death. Manuel's singing compared a soul-influenced baritone who drew frequent comparisons to Ray Charles and a delicate falsetto.

Despite the fact that three vocalists were exchanging lead and harmony parts, Manuel was often regarded as the group's primary vocalist.

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Early life and career

Manuel was born in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Ed Ed’s father, Ed, was a mechanic working at a Chrysler dealership, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He was raised with his three brothers and sisters, and the four of them performed in the church choir. Manuel began piano lessons as a youth and loved playing piano and rehearsing with family members at home. Ray Charles, Bobby Bland, Jimmy Reed, and Otis Rush were among his childhood influences.

Manuel joined The Rebels, a local Stratford band starring guitarist John Till (later of the Full Tilt Boogie Band). Manuel was rounded out by bass player Ken Kalmusky (later a founding member of Great Speckled Bird), with Manuel on piano and vocals and his buddy Jimmy Winkler on drums. In short order, the Revolving Company changed to Duane Eddy and the Rebels in honor of Duane Eddy and the Rebels. Although Richard was the primary vocalist, the range was extended to include original singer Doug 'Bo' Rhodes. Garth Pictot will replace guitarist Till later this year.

Manuel first became familiar with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks in the summer of 1960, when they were first introduced to them at Pop Ivy's in Port Dover, Ontario. "See that kid playing piano?" Hawkins remarked to him. Van Cliburn has more talent than he does. Hawkins appeared opening for The Revols at Stratford Coliseum the following spring. He offered to run the band and sent them to play at one of his clubs, The Rockwood in Fayetteville, after the performance. Manuel was recruited by the Hawks in mid-September 1961, after the Revolved returned from their southern journey, replacing piano player Stan Szelest.

Manuel was 18 when he joined the Hawks, Hawkins' back group. Levon Helm on drums, 17-year-old Robbie Robertson on guitar, and 17-year-old Rick Danko on bass; Garth Hudson, a 24-year-old organist, was the first member of the band to attend, followed by two other temporary members (saxophonist Jerry Penfound and singer Bruce Bruno). Hawkins' disdain for marijuana and contemporary music styles thwarted the band's career, leaving the singer's position in 1964. They were known as the Levon Helm Sextet at first (as Helm spent the most time with Hawkins) before renamed to the Canadian Squires and then to Levon and the Hawks. Manuel performed the majority of the songs in the group's repertoire, with Helm serving as the nominal leader because of his time with the Hawkins group. After Penfound and Bruno's departure, Levon and the Hawks introduced themselves to Sonny Boy Williamson, their blues hero. They had planned to work with Williamson, but they were unable to carry out their dreams before they were realised.

Helm, Hudson, and Robertson were among American bluesman John Hammond's backing on his album So Many Roads in 1965. When Hammond switched to an electric sound, he recommended the Hawks to Bob Dylan; with Dylan, they toured Europe and the United States, in the dread of Dylan's folk fans, who were exposed to his shaming and booing.

Dylan recovered from a motorcycle accident in Woodstock, New York, in 1967, while the company relocated to Woodstock, New York, where it became known as "Big Pink" is located on 100 acres (0.40 km2) in nearby West Saugerties, New York, which became known as "Big Pink." They were able to experiment with a new sound gathered from the country, soul, rhythm, and blues, as well as gospel and rockabilly music that they adored. Manuel, who was astonished by Dylan's reaction), had been mostly absent from the group since late 1965, but he learned to play drums during the hiatus. He would occasionally take the drummer's stool when Helm played mandolin or guitar in the Band period. His drum style is particularly different from Helm's, as shown by his appearances on "Rag Mama Rag" and "Evangeline."

Manuel and Robertson's aspirations as songwriters began in Woodstock early in the decade. The pair began recording numerous demos and signing with Albert Grossman in early 1968 and eventually signed Capitol Records to a 10-album deal. They were originally referred to as "The Crackers" (though "The Honkies" had also been considered). Helm returned to the fold as recording of their debut album, Music from Big Pink, began. The group then proceeded to take what they had learned from Dylan and used one of his songs in the process. They combined their vision of the perfect album, going solos, and singing harmonies modeled after the gospel sounds of their musical heroes The Staple Singers.

Manuel stated,

Manuel and Robertson co-wrote with Dylan, "Tears of Rage," Manuel's contribution was four songs; among Manuel's contributions was "Tears of Rage." "Long Black Veil" and "I Shall Be Disseminated" were included in the book, as well as the Danko-Dylan partnership "This Wheel's on Fire" that rounded out the collection. Big Pink's music was first revealed with the band name simply "The Band." This will be their company's name for the remainder of the company's existence. Despite being only ranked No. 108, the nation is still no. 1 in the world. The album, which debuts at number 30 on the Billboard charts, will have a major influence on the nascent country rock and roots rock movements. Manuel married Jane Kristiansen, a Toronto model who had dated intermittently since the Hawks' days, just shy of the album's release. They will be the parents of two children.

Manuel appeared in Eliza's Horoscope, a Warner Bros. independent Canadian drama written and directed by Gordon Sheppard in 1970. He played "the bearded composer," as he appeared alongside Tommy Lee Jones, former Playboy Bunny Elizabeth Moorman, and Lila Kedrova; Robertson appeared as an extra. It didn't take four years to complete, and it wasn't announced until 1975.

Manuel's songs were widely distributed in this period. "Blues for Breakfast" (an early Woodstock-era composition) was performed by Cass Elliot (1968), "Tears of Rage" on Any Day Now (1968), Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970) and Karen Dalton included her interpretation of "In My Own Time (1971). However, he was credited with only three songs ("When You Awake," "Whispering Pines," and "Jawbone") on The Band (1969) and two ("Sleeping" and "Just Another Whistle Stop") on Stage Fright (1970); both of these compositions were credited to Robertson's involvement with Grossman;

"Robbie didn't consciously threaten him," Cahoots (1971), producer John Simon, wrote, but Robbie was so smooth and urbane and witty, when Richard was such a gee-golly-gosh kind of guy." Manuel's increasing use of heroin may have also contributed to his songwriting skills' decline.

Manuel's alcoholism was one of a string of causes (including Robertson's own writer's block) that began to hinder the Band's recording and performance schedule through 1972. Manuel was "scared for death," Robertson said years later, "we didn't know what the next day would be like, or what would come out of this monster that had seenped out of the woodwork." Despite Jane Manuel's remark that "people thought it was amusing to watch this guy drown" during this period, the Manuels were able to reconcile before the impending birth of Josh. Manuel had "stopped [using heroin] and got into this drinking habit, according to Mason Hoffenberg (who worked with him from 1972 to 1977). I'm supposed to face all the juvenile dope dealers here who hang around rock stars. I answer the phone and say Richard isn't here... But if they did come over to the house, they won't say no. He's a natural performer. An amazing composer... The four other guys in the band are serious about their jobs, and he's definitely hanging them up. They can't function without him, and there is no way to get him off their asses. He's sorry about it, but he's just strung out."

In 1973, the company followed Dylan's example by relocating to Malibu, California. They met at Bearsville Studios to record an album of vintage rock and roll cover songs (some of which had been performed by The Hawks) in honor of Alan Freed's radio show. Although Manuel was initially reluctant to perform, the album delivered some of his finest vocal performances, including renditions of Bobby "Blue" Bland R&B's "Share Your Love with Me," The Platters' "The Great Pretender" and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Saved" a narrator. "Guess, man, piano, play it all, play it all, sing, do a lead in one of the high-assed keys to perform in," Helm had this to say about Manuel during this time. Richard had no idea how a song was supposed to go. He understood structure and melody; he knew it."

The Band resurfaced on the live circuit gradually. They performed at the Summer Jam in Osaka, Japan, and on a double bill with the Grateful Dead at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, two days later, at a warmup show in July 1973. In the fall, the group supported Dylan on his first full album of original songs since 1970 before serving as his backup band on his first tour in nearly eight years.

The Bob Dylan and the Band 1974 Tour's forty concerts, which included two sets of Dylan, two Band sets, and a Dylan acoustic set, were among the highlights of the tour's epic musical marathons. Manuel's ensuing live album from the tour shows that he was still capable of striking the falsetto on "I Shall Be Released."

On select dates of a summer stadium tour, the band performed regularly throughout 1974, supporting Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, alongside Joni Mitchell, Jesse Colin Young, and The Beach Boys. However, with the long-running, Robertson-penned sequel to Cahoots (Northern Lights – Southern Cross) in those markets, the company struggled to recruit followers in those markets, despite poor ticket sales in August 1974. Robertson had voiced dissatisfaction with touring and was playing in an increasingly parental role by 1975, before being pushed to Malibu and his refusal to encourage the company to join Bearsville Records. He had been given the opportunity to run the company on a de facto basis from an increasingly conflictual Grossman. Manuel, Manuel (who lived in a number of rented houses during the time, including Goldie Hawn and Keith Moon's), was now consuming eight bottles of Grand Marnier every day on top of a protracted cocaine use, which eventually resulted in his dissolution from Jane Manuel in 1976. Manuel attempted suicide (by self-immolation and shooting himself in the head with a BB gun) on at least two occasions while living in Hawn, West Africa.

He developed a kinship with similarly disadvantaged Eric Clapton and emerged as a driving force behind the sessions that ended No Reason to Cry (1976). Manuel spent about a year in a bungalow that had once served as the stable for Bamboo Harvester, the horse that portrayed the titular character on the 1960s sitcom Mister Ed. Manuel gave Clapton the song "Beautiful Thing" (a 1967 Band demo that Danko helped finish) and provided vocals for "Last Night."

Manuel was still recovering from a car accident earlier this year; several tour dates were later cancelled after a power-boating accident near Austin, Texas, which necessitated the recruitment of Tibetan healers in a situation reminiscent of Robertson's pre-show hypnosis before the band's first appearance at the Winterland Ballroom in April 1969. As the Northern Lights came to a stop, the Southern Cross had stalled at No. 1 for the Southern Cross. Many of the performances were limited to theaters and smaller arenas (including the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium and the Long Island Arena), culminating in an opening slot for the ascendant ZZ Top at the Nashville Fairgrounds in September. Manuel's sobriety was often dependent on the quality of the shows. He struggled with "Tears of Rage" and "I Shall Be Released," but "I Shall Be Released" and "King Harvest" were among the prophetic "The Shape I'm In" and "King Harvest" during the tour, but he gave empassioned, raging versions of the prophetic "The Shape I'm In" and "Has Certainly Come" and "King Harvest" (Has Certainly Comedian

On Thanksgiving Day of 1976, the Band appeared in its original form at Winterland. For the film The Last Waltz, Robertson confidant and longtime Band fan Martin Scorsese shot the performance in 35 mm. Manuel also contributes piano and backing vocals on "The Shape I'm In" as well as contributing piano and backing vocals. Initially, the band intended to stop live performances as The Band, but under a new deal with Warner Brothers, each member was kept on a retainer of $2,500 per week. However, the company had split apart by 1978.

Manuel escaped to Garth Hudson's ranch outside Malibu, taking advantage of the new solace. For the first time in years, he entered an alcohol and heroin recovery program, becoming clean and sober in August 1978. Arlie Litvak, his longtime girlfriend, was also remarried to him. Having gotten enamored of Manuel after hearing "Lonesome Suzie," the Toronto-born, 21-year-old Litvak first became familiar with the singer on the 1974 tour and then moved to the Moon house with Manuel in 1977. He performed electric piano and clavinet with Bright Morning Stars and background vocals to Hudson's Music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels in 1980.

Danko and Manuel, a semi-acoustic pair, debuted in tour clubs during this period. These concerts will continue into the Band reunion period, with Paul Butterfield, a Woodstock regular, often appearing as a special guest. Manuel, along with Hudson, appeared on several musical cues created by Robertson for Raging Bull (1980). Manuel and Hudson were also contributors to "Between Trains," Robertson's latest song on the soundtrack of The King of Comedy (1983) and the original soundtrack of Kent State, a 1981 television film based on the Kent State shootings, as well as the original soundtrack. Throughout the 1980s, he appeared in on little-known gigs with The Pencils in Los Angeles, including vocalists/multi-instrumentalist Joe Lala, founding Blues Image percussionist Joe Lala and former Beach Boys drummer Ricky Fataar. He sang of Stephen Stills and Mike Finnigan to a 1983 album by the band that was unveiled after Danko was injured in a debilitating automobile crash.

Manuel wrote a new song, "Was That Any Way to Say Goodbye," with younger Danko and Grebb, as he continued to struggle with writer's block. He played piano in Willie Nelson and Webb Pierce's 1982 version of "In the Jailhouse Now" (a country record for the former in 1955) and background vocals on Bonnie Raitt's acclaimed Green Light.

The Band reformed in 1983 without Robertson, who had to leave touring after The Last Waltz. Rather, guitarist and Helm protege Jim Weider augmented the returning four members with a mix of unknown new artists, including the Cate Brothers. Manuel performed old hits "I Shall Be Released," "Chest Fever," "You Don't Know Me," and "I Shall Be Released" with new conviction, as well as personal favorites such as Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold's "She Knows" and Robb Royer's "She Knows" after recovering some of his vocal range after recovering some of his vocal range in the years of drug use.

Danko, Helm and their families had returned to Malibu's Woodstock district by the time of the reunion. In the spring of 1984, Manuel and his wife were back in the United States. He was in poor health and worried that he had died from decades of promiscuity and heroin use, and he considered recording a Robertson-produced solo album and resurrecting using cocaine, hepamine, and alcohol. Manuel absconded with journalist and old friend Al Aronowitz's collection in a midnight robbery to fund his heroin use on one occasion. Manuel enjoyed several months of sobriety after a detox stint at Albert Grossman's behest. At The Getaway, a club midway between Woodstock and nearby Saugerties, New York, he undertook a fruitful solo residency (centered around "his favorite Ray Charles songs" and "Tin Pan Alley masterpieces). Often, guests such as Danko and Weider waited in. Manuel wrote "Breaking New Ground," with Gerry Goffin and Carole King, during this period. However, he ultimately "fell off the wagon with a thud" in 1985's spring.

Manuel and Danko performed in 1985, 1985-1969 Byrds bassist John York, as well as other members of the "20th Anniversary Tribute to The Byrds," a tribute group led by founding Byrds Gene Clark and Michael Clarke, as well as former Flying Burrito Brothers and Firefall's Rick Roberts, former Beach Boys guitarist Blondie Chaplin, and former Byrds guitarist John York. In ads and promotional literature, several concert promoters began to shorten the band's name to "The Byrds." The band's agent decided to shorten the name to "The Byrds" permanently, causing displeasure from co-founders Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman as they went on tour in 1985. Clark heeded their calls and joined the organization even as Michael Clarke continued to work with a similar group.

Manuel continued to work on several fronts in addition to his road work, including the recording of the Ethiopian famine relief charity single "Tears Are Not Enough" by the ad hoc Canadian supergroup Northern Lights. The song was eventually included on the We Are the World album. Manuel, alongside Hudson on keyboards, performed background vocals on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Best of Everything" (co-produced by Robertson) on Southern Accents.

Manuel sang of The Band's career path in a time when the organization was relegated to playing theaters and clubs as headliners and support slots in bigger venues for one-time competitors, such as the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills and Nash, Manuel said in a March 1985 interview with Ruth Albert Spencer of the Woodstock Times, "I sobbed up and I pay a lot more attention when I realize what we threw away." We didn't really throw it away, we benched it, and in just this year and a half, I've seen millions of dollars go by, but we haven't taken advantage of it."

Manuel died by suicide after a performance by The Band at the Cheek to Cheek Lounge in Winter Park, Florida (a suburb of Orlando, Florida). He had appeared to be in good spirits at the performance, but ominously "thanked [Hudson] for twenty-five years of good music and praise" as the former guitarist's keyboards and synthesizers were transported to the next venue after the performance. After the movie, Danko, who suffered with heroin use, confronted Manuel about his alcohol use. Manuel and the band returned to the Quality Inn after a long absence, and in Helm's room, Manuel talked to Helm about music, people, and film. Manuel said he wanted to get something from his room about 2:30 in the morning, according to Helm. Manuel awakened his wife, Arlie, who said that Manuel "was all pissed off about something"; Manuel said the reason for his annoyance was due to the piano's quality; Manuel later revealed that his indignation resulted from the quality of the venue's music. As Arlie begged him to bed, he lay down with his clothes on. It's likely that he finished one last bottle of Grand Marnier before hanging himself in the bathroom sometime before 3:30. The following morning, she discovered her husband's body, as well as the depleted bottle of liqueur and a small amount of cocaine. He was buried a week later at the Avondale Cemetery in his hometown, Stratford, Ontario. Danko performed one of Manuel's most popular covers, "I Shall Be Released," at the church's pipe organ and other attendees at his memorial service in Woodstock.

Danko said at the end of March, "I can't believe in a million years that he intended for this to happen." There was just no sign... This was just a goddamned silly mistake." Manuel was inebriated and had ingested cocaine within 12 to 24 hours of his death, according to a blood toxicology report.

Manuel was honoured by the city of Stratford with a sidewalk celebrity in the busy tourist section of Ontario Street in 2004. In his memory, there is also a memorial bench seated next to the Avon River dedicated in his name.

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