Richard Bell (March 5, 1946 – June 15, 2007) was a Canadian

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

best known as the

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

for

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

and her

Full Tilt Boogie Band Full Tilt Boogie Band was a Canadian rock band originally headed by guitarist John Till and then by vocalist Janis Joplin until her death in 1970. The band was composed of Till, pianist Richard Bell, bassist Brad Campbell, drummer Clark Pierson, ...

. He was also a keyboardist with

the Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

during the 1990s.

Early life and career

Richard Bell was the son of the Canadian composer and musician Dr. Leslie Bell. Richard started playing the piano at the age of four and studied music at Canada's

Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM; ), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher (musician), Edwar ...

.AP via the ''Arizona Republic'', "Former Joplin bandmate dies of cancer" June 19, 2007 After a short stint in The Mid-Knights, Bell's career first gained significance when he joined

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American rock and roll singer, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

as a member of the group And Many Others, following the departure of Hawkins's previous band (who would gain fame as the

Band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

). Hawkins fired the entire band in early 1970, and they renamed themselves

Crowbar A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially gooseneck, or pig bar, or in Australia a jemmy, is a lever consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flat ...

, subsequently recording ''Official Music'' (as King Biscuit Boy with Crowbar) (1970, Daffodil; 1996, Stony Plain). Bell left Crowbar shortly after this to join Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band, making good on an offer made the previous year by her manager.Rockingham, Graham, "Richard Bell, an original Hamilton rocker, dead at 61" ''Hamilton Spectator'', 18 June 2007

Janis Joplin

In the late 1960s, while touring with Hawkins at the

Fillmore East The Fillmore East was Promoter (entertainment), rock promoter Bill Graham (promoter), Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue near 6th Street (Manhattan), East 6th Street on the Lower East Side section of Manhattan, ...

, Bell was approached by Michael Friedman, an associate of Joplin's manager,

Albert Grossman Albert Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and folk ...

, and invited to join her new ensemble. His playing can be heard on her posthumously released album ''

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

'' and many bootleg recordings from her 1970 tour, including performances from the

Festival Express ''Festival Express'' is a 2003 British documentary film about the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito ...

"train tour" of Canada. Bell was interviewed many years later for the 2003 documentary film of the same name.

Session work

Following Joplin's death, Bell moved to

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

, where he worked as a session musician. Among those he worked with during this time were

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a Western concert flute, classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored ...

, Arlen Roth,

Karen Dalton Karen J. Dalton (born Jean Karen Cariker; July 19, 1937 – March 19, 1993) was an American country blues singer, guitarist, and banjo player. She was associated with the early 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene, particularly with F ...

and

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the ban ...

. Other acts Bell worked with include

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings Blackie and the Rodeo Kings are a Canadian folk rock–alternative country band with blues and country influences. The band was formed in 1996, in Hamilton, Ontario, by Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing, and Colin Linden. Career Early Period: 19 ...

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirit ...

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades. An Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning rec ...

, the Fridge Magnets,

Cowboy Junkies Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985 by Alan Anton (bassist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), Peter Timmins (drummer) and Margo Timmins (vocalist). The three Timminses ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, Michael Kaeshammer,

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In 1971, Raitt released her Bonnie Raitt (album), self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed Americana (mu ...

and

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

The Band

Bell moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1979 and played with various bands, including Pyro, with Jim Weider and Rick Pierce. He did session work also. He married Mary Deacon in 1979. He played with the Convertibles, with bandmates Scott Boyer and Tommy Talton (Cowboy), Topper Price, Brian Wheeler (Locust Fork) and Rick Kurtz (Delbert McClinton), among others, before returning to Canada and the Band. In 1991, Bell joined the reconstituted lineup of the Band as a keyboardist, replacing

Stan Szelest Stanley Martin Szelest (February 11, 1942 – January 20, 1991) was an American musician from Buffalo, New York, known for founding an influential blues band in the 1950s and 1960s, Stan and the Ravens, and later as a keyboardist with Ronnie Hawk ...

(himself a replacement for original pianist,

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) 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 F ...

, who committed suicide in 1986). Bell remained with the Band through their final three albums (''

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

'', '' High on the Hog'', and ''

Jubilation Jubilation may refer to: * Jubilation!, a parade at Tokyo Disneyland * ''Jubilation'' (The Band album), 1998 * ''Jubilation'' (Randy Johnston album), 1994 * ''Jubilation'' (The Rowans album), 1977 * ''Jubilation'', a musical composition by Rich ...

''). He was credited as a co-writer of "The Caves of Jericho", from the album ''Jericho''. The death of

Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...

in 1999 essentially ended the association known as the Band.

Later years

In later years, Bell performed as keyboard player with Canadian roots-rock performers such as

Colin Linden Colin Kendall Linden (born 16 April 1960) is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Linden plays acoustic and electric guitar, specializing in slide guitar, country blues, and ragtime fingerpicking, who frequently collaborates wi ...

, Paul Reddick,

Kathleen Edwards Kathleen Margaret Edwards (born July 11, 1978
) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. Her 2002 debut album, ''

and Jeff Lazare. At the time of his death, Bell had been performing regularly as a keyboardist, songwriter and occasional vocalist with the Porkbelly Futures and Danny Brooks & the Rockin' Revelators. (He produced two of Brooks's albums.) Bell was also a member of the country-rock group Burrito Deluxe, performing and contributing songs to their CD ''Disciples of the Truth''. Bell died after a long battle with

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

on June 15, 2007, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, at the age of 61.

References

External links

Interview with Bell
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Richard (Canadian Musician) 1946 births 2007 deaths Canadian rock keyboardists Deaths from multiple myeloma in Canada The Band members Deaths from cancer in Ontario Musicians from Toronto The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Musicians from Woodstock, New York 20th-century Canadian male musicians Full Tilt Boogie Band members