1. Eric Garth Hudson was a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for the rock band The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
29 Facts About Garth Hudson
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Garth Hudson was a principal architect of the group's sound and was described as "the most brilliant organist in the rock world" by Keyboard magazine.
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Garth Hudson was a much-in-demand and respected session musician, performing with dozens of artists, including Elton John, who has cited him as an early influence.
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Garth Hudson was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on August 2,1937.
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Garth Hudson's parents, Fred James Hudson and Olive Louella Pentland, were musicians.
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Garth Hudson moved with his family to London, Ontario, around 1940.
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Classically trained in piano, music theory, harmony and counterpoint, Garth Hudson wrote his first song at the age of eleven and first played professionally with dance bands in 1949, at the age of twelve.
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Garth Hudson attended Broughdale Public School and Medway High School before studying music at the University of Western Ontario.
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Garth Hudson primarily played saxophone in the group, and some piano in a style inspired by Johnnie Johnson, but saw his first Lowrey organ at a show in Detroit and determined that he would get one.
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Garth Hudson was first approached by Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm in the summer of 1961, after a Kapers show in London, and asked to join the Hawks, an offer he declined.
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The Hawks persisted, and in December 1961, Garth Hudson agreed to join the band on two conditions: that Hawkins buy him a Lowrey organ, and that he be paid an extra $10 a week by each of the other band members to give music lessons to the other Hawks.
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Garth Hudson was one of the few organ players in rock and roll and rhythm and blues to eschew a Hammond organ.
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The Lowrey organ offered a different mix of features, and Garth Hudson played one with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks and with Bob Dylan and the Band, playing three different models: originally a Festival console, which was replaced by a Lincolnwood TSO-25 during 1969, and later still a horseshoe console H25 model, as depicted in The Last Waltz.
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Garth Hudson started work as a session musician in 1965, playing on John Hammond, Jr.
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Garth Hudson is credited with playing all of the brass and woodwinds on the studio version of "Ophelia" from the 1975 album Northern Lights - Southern Cross.
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The song "Up on Cripple Creek" features Garth Hudson playing a clavinet through a wah-wah pedal to create a swampy sound reminiscent of a Jew's harp or the croak of a frog.
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Garth Hudson had his own property, Big Oak Basin Dude Ranch, in Malibu, which was destroyed by wildfires in 1978, after extensive renovations that included an impressive studio.
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Garth Hudson was active during this period as a session musician, performing on movie soundtracks and albums by many other artists, including Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen.
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Garth Hudson composed music for Our Lady Queen of the Angels, a multimedia show created for the Los Angeles bicentennial in 1980.
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Garth Hudson can be seen playing two separate keyboards in the Call's video for "The Walls Came Down".
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In 1988, Garth Hudson recorded "Feed the Birds" on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, produced by Hal Willner.
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In 1990 Garth Hudson, playing accordion and soprano saxophone, along with bandmates Levon Helm and Rick Danko, who harmonized with the vocalists, took part in Roger Waters's massive performance of The Wall at the Berlin Wall.
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Garth Hudson played on various solo efforts of his bandmates Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Robbie Robertson.
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Garth Hudson released his first solo album, The Sea to the North, on September 11,2001.
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In 2002, with his home in foreclosure and Robertson having bought out his stake in the Band, Garth Hudson declared bankruptcy for the third time.
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On November 20,2005, Garth Hudson received the Hamilton Music Award for Best Instrumentalist.
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Garth Hudson continued as a much-in-demand session player, performing with such artists as Neko Case, Chris Castle, Teddy Thompson, the Secret Machines, the Sadies, the Lemonheads, Jonah Smith, Yesterday's News, Billy the Kid and others.
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Garth Hudson contributed an original electronic score to an off-Broadway production of Dragon Slayers, written by Stanley Keyes and directed by Brad Mays in 1986 at the Union Square Theatre in New York.
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Garth Hudson died in his sleep at a nursing home in Woodstock, New York, on January 21,2025, at the age of 87.