Leon Russell, the songwriter behind some of rock musicâs top hits like âA Song For Youâ and âDelta Lady,â has died. He was 74.
Russellâs official website confirmed that the musician âpassed away in his sleepâ in Nashville on Sunday.
Though an official cause of death has not been released, Russell underwent surgery after suffering a heart attack this past July and was reportedly still in recovery, according to The Associated Press. In 2010, he was also treated for heart failure and underwent surgery for a brain fluid leak.
The AP noted that Russell had planned to continue touring in January, citing a representative for the musician.
Russell, who was known for both his musical abilities and his long, wispy white hair and beard, began his career at 14 as a piano player in Oklahoma night clubs before moving on to California. He described the experience in a 2014 interview, saying âit was pretty rough.â
âIt was a dry state, and there were no liquor laws so consequently there were no laws about minors playing in night clubs, so I had the opportunity to start early,â he said. âI went out to California the week I got out of high school, I was seventeen, and found out that they werenât going to have any sense of humor about that, they werenât going to let me play or even go into the night clubs unless I was 21, so I had to borrow IDs.â
Eventually, Russell would go on to make his mark as one of the top studio musicians in the industry in the 1960s and â70s. He worked with everyone from The Beach Boys (on âPet Soundsâ) to Phil Spector (he was in Spectorâs Wall of Sound Orchestra) to The Rolling Stones, among countless others. He also led Joe Cockerâs âMad Dogs & Englishmenâ tour.
Russell reached the height of his popularity in the â70s, but continued to perform well afterward. In 1971, he played at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York along with George Harrison and Bob Dylan. He produced Dylanâs song âWatching the River Flowâ and a version of âWhen I Paint My Masterpiece.â
He also found plenty of success as a solo artist, releasing his first album in 1970. By then, he had already appeared on hundreds of songs recorded by other musicians. Russellâs solo work crossed musical genres, fusing country, soul, blues, jazz, gospel and pop to create his own style. As The New York Times notes, âRussell made a broad, sophisticated palette of American music sound down-home and natural.â
In 2010, he collaborated with Elton John on the album âThe Union.â The single âIf It Wasnât For Badâ received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The following year, Russell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
John, who dubbed Russell âthe master of space and time,â paid tribute to his friend and collaborator following the news of his death Sunday.
âHe was a mentor, inspiration and so kind to me,â John wrote alongside a photo of the two on Facebook.
Plenty of others shared their condolences on Twitter: