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

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

best known as the

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

for

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

and her

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

. He was also a keyboardist with the Band 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), Edward ...

.AP via the ''Arizona Republic'', "Former Joplin bandmate dies of cancer" June 19, 2007 After a short stint in

The Mid-Knights The Mid-Knights, also known as Richie Knight and the Mid-Knights, was a Canadian rhythm and blues band, active in the 1960s. Part of the Toronto Sound scene of that era, the band are best remembered for their single "Charlena", which was a List of n ...

, Bell's career first gained significance when he joined

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter, 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, I ...

). Hawkins fired the entire band in early 1970, and they renamed themselves Crowbar, subsequently recording ''Official Music'' (as

King Biscuit Boy Richard Alfred Newell (March 9, 1944 – January 5, 2003), better known by his stage name, King Biscuit Boy, was a Canadian blues musician. He was the first Canadian blues artist to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US Newell played gu ...

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 rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. ...

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

Albert Grossman Albert Bernard 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 ...

, 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) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

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

Festival Express ''Festival Express'' is a 2003 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 the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito B ...

"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 town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000 ...

, 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 band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

Karen Dalton Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic la ...

and

John Sebastian John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969Blackie 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 jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

, 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. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Michael Kaeshammer Michael Kaeshammer (born 7 January 1977) is a Canadian jazz and boogie-woogie pianist. Early life and education Kaeshammer grew up in Offenburg, Germany, where he studied classical piano for seven years. At age thirteen, he became interested i ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

and

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr B ...

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 Hawki ...

(himself a replacement for original pianist,

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, 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 ...

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

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

'', '' 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. He frequently collaborates with ...

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 ...

, Paul Reddick and

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

At the time of his death, the Toronto-based musician had been performing regularly as a keyboardist, songwriter and occasional vocalist with the

Porkbelly Futures Porkbelly Futures is a Canadian blues music group based in Toronto, Ontario. The latest lineup of the band included lead singer Paul Quarrington (1953-2010),; guitarist/harmonica player Stuart Laughton, bass player Chas Elliott (Toronto Symphony) ...

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 antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, an ...

on June 15, 2007, in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

'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 The Band members Deaths from cancer in Ontario Musicians from Toronto The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni People from Woodstock, New York 20th-century Canadian male musicians Full Tilt Boogie Band members