24 Facts About Richard Manuel

Richard George Manuel was a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in the Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Richard Manuel's father, Ed, was a mechanic employed at a Chrysler dealership, and his mother was a schoolteacher.

Richard Manuel was raised with his three brothers, and the four sang in the church choir.

Richard Manuel took piano lessons beginning when he was nine, and enjoyed playing piano and rehearsing with friends at home.

Around 1957, Richard Manuel joined The Rebels, a local Stratford band featuring guitarist John Till.

Richard Manuel first became acquainted with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks in the summer of 1960 when the Revols opened for them at Pop Ivy's in Port Dover, Ontario.

Richard Manuel was 18 when he joined Hawkins's backing group, the Hawks.

Shortly after the release of the album, the newly financially secure Richard Manuel married his girlfriend, Jane Kristiansen, a model from Toronto, whom he had dated intermittently since the Hawks days.

Richard Manuel portrayed "the bearded composer," performing alongside Tommy Lee Jones, former Playboy Bunny Elizabeth Moorman, and Lila Kedrova; Robertson appeared as an extra.

Richard Manuel was credited with writing only three songs on The Band and two on Stage Fright ; all of these songs were credited as collaborations with Robertson, who had assumed dominance in the group's affairs with Grossman.

Richard Manuel feels bad about it, he's just strung out.

The ensuing live album from the tour, Before the Flood, reveals that Richard Manuel was still capable of reaching the falsetto on "I Shall Be Released".

The album was recorded at the Band's new Shangri-La Studios, where Richard Manuel lived for about a year in a bungalow that had once served as the stable for Bamboo Harvester, the horse that portrayed the titular character on the 1960s sitcom Mister Ed.

Richard Manuel entered an alcohol and drug rehabilitation program, becoming clean and sober for the first time in years in August 1978.

Richard Manuel was eventually remarried to his longtime girlfriend, Arlie Litvak.

Richard Manuel returned with his wife in the spring of 1984.

On one occasion, Richard Manuel absconded with journalist and old friend Al Aronowitz's record collection in a midnight burglary to fund his addictions.

Richard Manuel undertook a successful solo residency at The Getaway, a club midway between Woodstock and nearby Saugerties, New York.

On March 4,1986, after a gig by The Band at the Cheek to Cheek Lounge in Winter Park, Florida, Richard Manuel died by suicide.

Richard Manuel had appeared to be in relatively good spirits at the concert but ominously "thanked [Hudson] profusely for twenty-five years of good music and appreciation" as the latter musician packed his keyboards and synthesizers to be shipped to the next venue after the show.

The Band eventually returned to the Quality Inn, and Richard Manuel talked with Helm about music, people, and film in Helm's room.

Richard Manuel discovered her husband's body along with the depleted bottle of liqueur and a small amount of cocaine the following morning.

Richard Manuel was buried a week later at the Avondale Cemetery in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario.

In 1994, Richard Manuel was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Band.