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Richard Bell 1946 - 2007
Richard Bell was a gifted, hardworking musician who was known for his modesty and a man who was a good friend, a wide-ranging conversationalist, an avid reader, an enthusiast of high-tech and low-tech gadgets, a cook and a lover.
That was the picture of Bell that emerged at a celebration of his life held at the Steamwhistle Brewery in Toronto on June 20, five days after he died of cancer at the age of 61. The event was attended by about 500 of his friends, which included many musicians, and his family, among them his 92-year-old mother, Leona Helwig.
"Richard wanted this to be a celebration," said Bell's friend and bandmate Colin Linden, who gave the eulogy. And so the buffet was generous and the bar well stocked. "He wanted us to eat and drink, a very specific specification," Linden added.
Linden said that Bell, who was mainly a pianist, had many different lifetimes.
Bell worked with hundreds of artists, some of whom are well-known, performing with them and recording on and/or producing some 400 albums. He has been associated with Janis Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band, Bob Dylan, The Band, Paul Butterfield, Bonnie Raitt and Ronnie Hawkins. Most recently, he worked with Linden, Pork Belly Futures, Danny Brooks, Rita Chiarelli, Lance Anderson and Paul Reddick, among others. Bell was also a songwriter who penned "Caves of Jericho," for The Band's album Jericho, and "Out of the Wilderness," on Linden's Through the Storm Through the Night CD.
Richard Bell
(front right) in promo shot for
"The Group" circa 1964.
Photo courtesy Bill Munson
"Everything he played came from the blues," Linden told the Star. "Whether it was a country song or a singer-songwriter's ballad, Richard gave it gravitas, orchestral chords and a strong left-hand rhythm."
Bell, the son of the late Leslie Bell, a renowned Canadian choir conductor, educator and composer, started playing piano at the age of four. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music and excelled at music during his years attending Upper Canada College. By the time he was in Grade 9, however, he was already an accomplished rock `n' roll musician. Al Marr, one of his former classmates, remembers an impromptu concert Bell gave one day after Latin class on an old upright piano. "Without saying a word, he started playing Money, Rockin' Pneumonia. We heard a medley of Fats Domino, Huey (Piano) Smith… There were 30 or 40 classmates sitting around in absolute awe."
Early in his career, Bell played with the BJ Rebels, who became Robbie Lane and the Disciples. His father forced him to quit the band after an episode of youthful drinking led to Bell crashing a car into a tree. He then joined Ritchie Knight and the MidKnights and played piano on his first recording, the MidKnights' 1965 single, which has the bluesy "That's Alright" on the A side and "The Work Song" on the B side. Next, Bell played in the Yorkville band Livingston's Tripp, and from there he joined Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks in 1968, bringing Richard (King Biscuit Boy) Newell with him. Bell was then spotted by Joplin's manager, Albert Grossman, when The Hawks played at New York's Fillmore East auditorium, and he became the piano player of the Full Tilt Boogie Band in 1970.
Ken Pearson, who thought he might lose his job as Full Tilt's organist when he first met Bell, said Bell was a complete musician who could play all styles. "He was bursting with creativity and music, he wasn't jaded or cynical, and worked as hard on small projects as he did on big ones." Pearson added that Bell was extremely modest and would laugh off any compliments he was given.
Bell spent the 1970s and '80s in Woodstock, N.Y., Alabama and Atlanta, Ga., where he married Mary Deacon and worked for her father's drywall company, a job he disliked. However, the marriage ended after a short time, and he returned to music full time. Linden remembered working with Bell in Alabama, "in bars where people were getting shot and knifed." One night three women Richard was seeing turned up at a gig to see him on his birthday. "It didn't turn out so good," Linden said.
Bell returned to Canada in 1989 because he missed his family. Linden helped him open some doors here, and soon he was working with artists across Canada, including many in Southern Ontario.
Reddick said Bell is the greatest musician he's ever known. "In his supportive role, he would hold you up."
Brooks' wife, Debra, recalled that during the recording of one of Brooks' CDs, Bell took the time to shop for an iPod _ he loved gadgets of all kinds, from popcorn makers to computers _ for their teenage daughter, Caitlin. "He (Richard) had a gift to make you feel special and important," Brooks added.
Anderson said Bell's kindness and generosity came through when he played. "He always gave way to other people, never forced himself onto other people."
Toronto Blues Society president Derek Andrews noted that in the 18 years Bell spent in Toronto after returning from the United States, "he elevated the standard of musicianship in the blues scene. He also brought his own version of playful positivity and joy to every gig."
In the eulogy, Linden said Bell felt spiritually connected and was religious in his own way. He quoted Bell, who once said that "the world belongs to all of those who inhabit it, not just those who inhabit it right now." Bell will certainly not be forgotten by the many people he touched, including this writer who saw him perform once at a jam session at a Harbourfront blues festival, switching from rollicking blues to Beethoven.
Along with being survived by his mother, Bell leaves his sister Janet Macey, his niece Roz Macey, who made a moving speech at the celebration, and his nephews Richard, Doug and Gord Macey.
The celebration included a showing of a short film tribute to Bell, made by Brian Furlong in 2006. It can be viewed at www.colinlinden.com or at YouTube.
- Ruth Schweitzer
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