Southern rocker made hits for others, himself
Leon Russell, the long-haired, scratchy-voiced pianist, guitarist, songwriter and bandleader who performed and produced some of rock’s top records, dies in Nashville at age 74.
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 Sunday 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.
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, Russell suffered a heart attack and was scheduled for further surgery, according to a news release from the historical society of Oklahoma.
With a top hat on his head, hair well past his shoulders, a long beard, an Oklahoma drawl and his fingers splashing twofisted barrelhouse piano chords, 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” and “Lady Blue.”
His songs also became hits for others, including “Superstar” for the Carpenters, “Delta Lady” for Joe Cocker and “This Masquerade” for George Benson. More than 100 acts have recorded “A Song for You,” which he wrote in 10 minutes.
By the time 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. 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.
The music 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, Russell made a broad, sophisticated palette of American music sound down-home and natural.
After Russell’s peak of popularity in the 1970s, he shied away from self-promotion and largely set aside rock, though he continued performing. But he was prized as a musicians’ musician, collaborating with Elvis Costello and Elton John among others.
In 1979, Russell married Janet Lee Constantine, who survives him along with six children: Blue, Teddy Jack, Tina Rose, Sugaree, Honey and Coco.