Richard Manuel (The Band)

"Isn't everybody dreaming?--then the voice I hear is real.
Out of all the idle scheming, can't we have something to feel?"
--"In a Station", Richard Manuel

Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions and membership in The Band.
Richard Manuel's emotional, soulful voice and his beautiful songwriting was essential to the success of the original group.



On March 4, 1986, The Band's lead singer, pianist, and drummer Richard Manuel after a gig at the Cheek to Cheek Lounge outside Orlando, in Winter Park, Florida, with the reunited Band, committed suicide in a motel room in Winter Park. He had seemed to be in relatively good "spirits" but ominously thanked Hudson for "twenty-five years of incredible music". The Band returned to the Quality Inn, down the block from the Cheek to Cheek Lounge, and Manuel talked with Levon Helm about music, film, etc., in Helm's room. According to Helm, at around 2:30 Manuel said he needed to get something from his room. Upon returning to his motel room, it is believed that he finished one last bottle of Grand Marnier before hanging himself. Manuel's wife Arlie — drug addled herself at the time — discovered his body along with the depleted bottle and a small amount of cocaine the following morning.
He was buried a week later in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario.

Quotes about Richard Manuel :

• "Richard Manuel was a whole show unto himself. He was hot. He was about the best singer I'd ever heard; most people said he reminded them of Ray Charles. He'd do those ballads, and the ladies would swoon. To me that became the highlight of our show."--Levon Helm
  

• "He brought a lot of powers and strengths to the group. He brought in gospel music from his church upbringing. Plus, he loved to play and just come up with new things. It was like having a force of nature in the band." --Rick Danko
  

• "Richard not only had the voice, he had this great rhythmic feel..." --Garth Hudson
  

• "Richard was a sweet, sweet guy... Always pushed the envelope beyond where it would go. Drove one hundred fifty miles an hour in his driveway; faster on the road." --John Simon
  

• "I was madly in love with Richard... At the time, [1975] we had the same troubles. I felt insecure and he was clearly insecure, and yet he was so incredibly gifted....For me he [Richard] was the true light of the Band. The other guys were fantastic talents, of course, but there was something of the holy madman about Richard. He was raw. When he sang in that high falsetto the hair on my neck would stand on end. Not many people can do that." --Eric Clapton
  

• "Richard Manuel's is the first voice you hear on the first Band album Music from Big Pink. After a Robbie Robertson guitar intro that sounds as if it's being fed through Garth Hudson's Lowrey organ at its most distorted, his aching baritone launches into the first reproachful line of `Tears of Rage`. As it arches over `arms`, you can't help thinking of Ray Charles, the singer who more than any other shaped this unlikely white soul voice from Stratford, Ontario. And by the end of the first chorus you realize why, in an almost unspoken way, Manuel's fellow Band vocalists Levon Helm and Rick Danko always looked upon him as the group's `lead` singer." --Barney Hoskyns
  

• "Well, let's see: I started [in music] at nine and quit. Then got back to it when I was twelve. Then I became a party star. In fact, I became a party!" --Richard Manuel
  

Tributes / Posthumous Recognition :

• In 2003, the Japanese company Dreamsville Records released selections from a solo concert recorded in Saugerties, New York in October 1985, in a compilation entitled Whispering Pines: Live at the Getaway.

• Eric Clapton recorded his tribute to Richard Manuel, "Holy Mother", on his 1986 release August.

• San Francisco-area group The Call, who had collaborated with former Band members Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson, dedicated the video for their 1986 single, "Everywhere I Go" to Manuel. The dedication appears at the end of the video.

• Robbie Robertson's self-titled solo album from 1987 opens with "Fallen Angel", a song dedicated to his former bandmate.

• Rick Danko sings lead on "Too Soon Gone", the reformed (minus Robbie Robertson) Band's tribute to Richard from the 1993 album Jericho.

• In 2002, Counting Crows released Hard Candy, which contained the song "If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead", inspired by the late musician. The inspiration from the song, according to Duritz, came from the sense of "not lasting" he felt when he went to bed and read a newspaper that stated Richard Manuel, lead member and piano player of The Band, had died. Duritz stated that the sense of impermanance was "overwhelming" and 15 years after the death of Manuel this sense inspired him to write the song.

• In 2004, The Drive-By Truckers released The Dirty South, which contained the song "Danko/Manuel". The lyrics contain the phrase "Richard Manuel Is Dead" and also refers to other members of The Band. Writer Jason Isbell: "When I started writing this one, I wanted to capture some of Levon Helm's feelings about the deaths (and lives) of Richard Manuel and Rick Danko. The longer I worked on the song, the more impossible that became. I felt like the best I could do was to explain my own attitude toward being a working and traveling musician."

• Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, lead singer Jason Isbell had joined the rock band Drive-By Truckers in 2001 while they toured in support of their album Southern Rock Opera. He recorded and wrote with the Truckers for their next three albums.On April 5, 2007 Isbell announced that he was no longer a member of Drive-By Truckers. Jason was the writer of the Drive-By Truckers' "Danko/Manuel" tribute song. He plays the song with his new band in his gigs.

• 2005 saw musical recordings by Head of Femur ("Song for Richard Manuel" on "Hysterical Stars") and by Mike Skliar ("Goodbye Rick Danko" in his self-titled collection); in 2008, Michigan roots quartet Steppin' In It released the album "Simple Tunes for Troubled Times", which contains the song "The Ghost of Richard Manuel", while Isaac Gillespie's album "1971" featured "Richard Manuel the Pacifier".

• Richard Manuel's grave is at the Avondale cemetary in Stratford, Ontario. Richard's hometown Stratford honoured him in 2004 with a sidewalk star and a memorial bench.

Tribute Page : HERE

Richard Manuel Album Discography : HERE

Richard Manuel Photos : HERE

Richard Manuel at Wikipedia : HERE

THIS IS MY STORY (Biographies) : Richard Manuel of The Band


Audio Clips (Tribute Tracks):
Danko/Manuel - Drive-by Truckers, The Dirty South (2004)
Fallen Angel - Robbie Robertson (1987)
Holy Mother - Eric Clapton, August (1986)
If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead - Counting Crows, Hard Candy (2002)
Everywhere I Go - The Call, Reconciled (1986)




YouTube :
Whispering Pines - The Band (1969)


Tears Of Rage - Richard Manuel with The Band, at Woodstock (1969)


You Don't Know Me - The Band, "The Band Is Back" tour (1983)


The Shape I'm In - The Band, "The Band Is Back" tour (1983)


Danko/Manuel - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, @ Local 506 9.6.07


Danko/Manuel - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Common Grounds in Gainesville,Florida on May 5th 2009


If I Could Give All My Love -or- Richard Manuel Is Dead - Counting Crows (2002)