so I'm listening to the radio Sunday morn and they're playing lots of Leon Russell...good! I love Leon Russell...then I hear even more so I figure either he's coming to town for a concert or he died...
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| from Rita Coolidge's memoir: Delta Lady |
Leon Russell died...he was in bad health for awhile so I'm not shocked...but what an interesting cat he was....band leader, producer, songwriter extraordinaire, solo artist and worked on so many Top 40 hits in the sixties..really great songs like This Diamond Ring...and did sessions with everyone from Sinatra to Dylan ..a huge part of the gorgeous sounds coming from that era..a time in music that will never come again
in the early 70s music was pretty loose and brilliant and still a mega- business... and Leon was a big part of it with the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tours...Joe Cocker and Rita Coolidge..get her book, Delta Lady... she tells some great stories...her sister Priscilla was married to Booker T Jones and they all had ranches in Malibu! Leon and Rita were an item for awhile...
Superstar was written by Rita and Leon finished it and the Carpenters, with Karen Carpenter singing, did a lovely version...
Leon with the long white hair and flowing beard and dark glasses looked like a guy from another time....like the 1800s..maybe in a traveling carnival show...
but the early 70s was where he shined..so many great songs he did with Cocker and on the solo albums...This Masquerade, Cry Me A River, Song For You, Me and Baby Jane, Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms...he was about as gifted as a musician could be! he was a legend
then he fell on some hard times and Elton John lifted him up and out of it...Elton was a big fan of Leon...
pretty good piano players those two...
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