Garth Hudson, the multi-instrumentalist and last surviving founding member of roots rock legends The Band, has passed away at the age of 87.
The Toronto Star reports that Hudson died peacefully in his sleep early this morning (January 21) at a nursing home in Woodstock, New York, according to executor of Hudson’s estate.
Known as the quiet one in The Band, Hudson was the only member to never contribute vocals on stage or on record, instead focusing on his virtuosic work with the Lowrey organ, accordion and saxophone.
In his 2016 memoir, Testimony, late bandmate Robbie Robertson wrote about Hudson that “he played brilliantly, in a more complex way than anybody we had ever jammed with. 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.”
Born Eric Hudson in Windsor, Ontario on August 2, 1937, he grew up in London, Ontario, learning how to play both the piano and accordion from a young age. He studied at The University of Western Ontario and joined his first band The Silhouettes in 1956, later relocating to the Windsor/Detroit area.
In 1961, Hudson was approached by Ronnie Hawkins and Leon Helm, who asked him to join Hawkins's band, The Hawks, which also featured members Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel.
Hudson and his bandmates split from Hawkins in 1963 and ventured on their own, getting their big break in 1965 when they were introduced to Bob Dylan, who would ask them to record songs for his album, Blonde on Blonde. They then proceeded to support Dylan on his controversial "electric tour."
The Band relocated to West Saugerties, New York, taking up residence in a pink house they would pay tribute to on their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink. Meanwhile, Hudson would continue to work as a session musician, collaborating with Dylan again on both The Basement Tapes and Planet Waves.
Hudson was featured on all ten of The Band's studio albums, and appeared in Martin Scorcese's documentary film The Last Waltz, which captured what was to be The Band's "farewell concert appearance." Held on November 25, 1976 over American Thanksgiving, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, the performance featured contributions by former band leaders Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan, as well as Paul Butterfield, Bobby Charles, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Staple Singers, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, and Neil Young.
Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Hudson joined The Band for their reunion, while also performing with bandmates Danko, Helm and Robertson on their solo work. He also released two solo albums of his own.
In 1990, he performed at Roger Waters's historic concert performance of Pink Floyd's The Wall at the Berlin Wall, and became a regular collaborator with Scorcese, adding to the music for films such as The King of Comedy and Raging Bull.
With The Band, Hudson was inducted into both the Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He also received received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2008.
In a rare 2003 interview with Maclean's, Hudson explained his approach to music, saying, “It was a job. 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.”
Hudson's longtime musical partner and wife of 43 years, Maud Hudson, died in February 2022.