Photo: Garth Hudson | By Chris Morris, Variety | Garth Hudson, whose fantastical approach to the organ and virtuosity on a panoply of other instruments lent a distinctive touch to the roots-rock of the Canadian-American group the Band, has died, according to the Toronto Star. Hudson “passed away peacefully in his sleep” Tuesday morning at a nursing home in the Band’s longtime home base of Woodstock, New York, the musician’s estate executor confirmed to the publication. He was 87.
Retiring and seldom interviewed, Hudson was the quiet man in the group that began life as the Hawks, Arkansas-born rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins’ backup band, who in 1966 graduated to supporting Bob Dylan on his tumultuous first tour as a rock ‘n’ roll performer.
After woodshedding with Dylan in West Saugerties, N.Y. – where Hudson served as recording engineer for Dylan and the group’s legendary “basement tapes” – the musicians stepped out as the Band on a stunning 1968 debut, “Music From Big Pink.” That album and the self-titled 1969 sequel established them as one of the day’s top rock acts.
In a typically self-effacing, and typically rare, interview with the Canadian magazine Maclean’s in 2003, Hudson – the only Band member who never contributed vocally on stage or on record – minimized his unique accomplishments.
“It was a job,” he said. “Play a stadium, play a theater. My job was to provide arrangements with pads underneath, pads and fills behind good poets. Same poems every night.”
Robbie Robertson, the Band’s guitarist and songwriter in the group’s years of stardom, offered a far more effusive assessment of what Hudson brought to the table in his 2016 memoir “Testimony”
“He played brilliantly, in a more complex way than anybody we had ever jammed with,” he wrote. “Most of us had just picked up our instruments as kids and plowed ahead, but Garth was classically trained and could find musical avenues on the keyboard we didn’t know existed. It impressed us deeply.”
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Maud Hudson, his wife of 43 years and longtime musical partner, died in February 2022.
Read more of Mr. Hudson’s accomplishments here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/garth-hudson-last-surviving-member-of-the-band-dies-at-87/
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
On Facebook: Dino Coyotes: It’s with sincere sadness & condolences that I announce the passing of Timothy McMillon. He was my first drummer in 1973 and been my inspiration and mentor ever since then. I got my vocal style and musical taste from him. My thoughts and prayers go out to his daughter Jerico and to all his friends and family. ~ Sincerely, Dino…
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015123039103
Warning Signs of Suicide – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or if you want to discuss, call the old numbers at 800-273-TALK or 800-273-8255 for English and 888-628-9454 for Spanish. Learn the signs of someone who may be contemplating suicide.
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
January 2025
22: Gabriel Yacoub, 72, French singer (Malicorne).
21: Petr Hannig, 79, Czech singer and political activist; Garth Hudson, 87, Canadian Hall of Fame musician (The Band) and keyboardist (“Chest Fever”).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Hudson
20: Bob Kuban, 84, American bandleader and musician (“The Cheater”), stroke; John Sykes, 65, English guitarist (Tygers of Pan Tang, Whitesnake) and songwriter (“Is This Love”), cancer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kuban
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sykes
19: Kaiti Grey, 100, Greek singer; Lobo, 69, Dutch singer; Bob Perkins, 91, American disc jockey (WRTI, WCHD) and columnist (The Philadelphia Tribune).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Perkins_(radio_personality)
18: Luizinho Andanças [pt], 61, Brazilian samba singer (Unidos do Porto da Pedra); Maricenne Costa, 89, Brazilian actress and singer, complications from Alzheimer’s disease; Claire van Kampen, 71, English composer (Royal Shakespeare Company), playwright and theatre director, cancer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_van_Kampen
17: Manuëla Kemp [nl], 61, Dutch singer and television presenter (Eigen Huis & Tuin); Stéphane Venne, 83, Canadian singer-songwriter, arranger and producer.
16: Abdoulaye Diabaté, 65, Senegalese pianist (Kora Jazz Trio); Toby Myers, 75, American musician (Roadmaster, John Cougar Mellencamp), cancer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Myers
15: Sylvan Kalib, 95, American music theorist and composer; David Lynch, 78, American television and film director (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive), visual artist and musician, complications from emphysema; Melba Montgomery, 86, American country singer (“No Charge”, “Don’t Let the Good Times Fool You”, “Angel of the Morning”) and songwriter; Linda Nolan, 65, Irish singer (The Nolans), actress and television personality (Celebrity Big Brother).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melba_Montgomery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Nolan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2025
Photo: Garth Hudson