TRAGIC NEWS: After an amazing career performing alongside music giants, the last surviving member of The Hawks Band, passed away at the age of 87.
The Band’s final living member, rock legend Garth Hudson, passed away at the age of 87.
Hudson passed away in his sleep on Tuesday at a nursing facility in Woodstock, Ulster County, New York, where he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Toronto Star was informed by Hudson’s estate executor that he had passed away.
Rock icon Ronnie Hawkins enlisted Hudson, who was born and reared in London, Ontario, to play with his band, The Hawks.
Hudson joined Hawkins’ band at the age of 24, which included vocalist and pianist Richard Manuel, guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Banko, and drummer Levon Helm.
Hawkins led the group to early success, but in 1963 they broke up and formed their own band.
With the same musicians, the group changed their name to The Band in 1964.
Legend Bob Dylan first met The Band in 1965 and became a fan of the group. As a result, they recorded a collaborative song called “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window.”
They were chosen by Dylan to travel with him on his 1966 Electric tour, which took him to Australia, Europe, and the United States.
After gaining popularity, the band released their first album, Music From Big Pink, in 1968.
In February 2020, Robertson told Yahoo Entertainment, “We were so locked in, in a musicality and in a personal way, that we invented something that had a big effect on the course of music.”
We weren’t trendy since we didn’t want to follow the trend and didn’t know what it was.
“We were going into our own world, our own dimension, and discovering a musicality, a sound, everything.”
At the age of 80, Robertson passed away in August 2023.
The Band’s self-titled album and The Basement Tapes, released in 1967, added to their chart-topping popularity.
However, after a string of disappointments, including the album Northern Lights – Southern Cross’s lackluster performance and keyboardist Manuel’s boating tragedy, Robertson persuaded the group to stop performing live by the mid-1970s.
The Band performed their final show, The Last Waltz, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in November 1976.
Rock icons Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and Neil Diamond were among the many celebrities who performed at the star-studded event.
The Band was included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004 after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
“Musical Occurrence”
Social media was inundated with condolences to Hudson and The Band from fans.
“Garth Hudson, rest in peace. The best organist in the history of rock? One fan said, “The best organist in rock history.”
It’s difficult to accept that The Band no longer has any surviving members. I’m going to spend some time gazing into space.
“One of the greatest and most underappreciated musicians of the 20th century is gone,” another commented. It was the end of an era and the end of The Band. Garth Hudson, you musical marvel, may you rest in peace.
The official X page for the Band referred to Hudson as a “musical genius and a cornerstone of the group’s timeless sound.”
The Band’s web page stated, “Today, we sadly say goodbye to Garth “Honey Boy” Hudson, the last surviving original member of The Band.”
