As a passionate fan of the Band, Stephen T. Lewis had watched the concert film “The Last Waltz” numerous times and devoured autobiographies on Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson, the Band’s best-known members.
Despite those acclaimed accounts of the influential group’s story – the early days as the Hawks backing Ronnie Hawkins, their role as Bob Dylan’s band and their own roots-rock albums that inspired scores of bands ever after – something was missing, Lewis says.
“I felt like there was a big gap,” he says about the story of the Band, which also included Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson. “There was a big empty space there, even with Robbie and Levon’s memoirs, that really needed to be filled in some way.”
In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. (Photo courtesy of the estate of Jane Edmonds) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. (Image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. Seen here is Manuel on stage with the Band. (Photo courtesy of wattcasey.com) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. (Photo courtesy of the author) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. Seen here is the Band, left to right, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Roibbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, and Manuel. (Photo courtesy of the estate of David Gahr) Richard Manuel grew up in Stratford, Ontario where after success with his first band the Revols the teenage singer-pianist was hired to join Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, who later left to become The Band, a story told by Stephen T. Lewis in a new biography of Manuel. (Photo courtesy of the family of Richard Manuel) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. Seen here are the Hawks, left to right, Rick Danko, Manuel, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Robbie Robertson. (Photo courtesy of Bill Avis and Jerome Levon Avis) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. (Photo courtesy of the estate of David Gahr) In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. (Photo courtesy wattcasey.com) “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from The Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” is Stephen T. Lewis’s new book and the first official biography of the singer and pianist of the Band. (Photo courtesy of Stephen T. Lewis, book jacket courtesy of Schiffer Publishing) Show Caption1 of 10In “Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” writer Stephen T. Lewis explores the life of the singer-pianist from Stratford, Ontario. (Photo courtesy of the estate of Jane Edmonds) ExpandThen Lewis saw the documentary “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band” after its February 2020 release and had an epiphany.
“It just clicked,” he says by phone from his Rochester, N.Y. home. “I had this moment where I’m like, you know, (Robbie’s) got his memoir, and he’s got this film. And I’m disappointed with the lack of Richard-centric material because he was my favorite member of the group.”
At first, Lewis, who has written and talked about music for years on his Talk from the Rock Room website and podcast, thought he’d write a long article on Manuel for the website blog, or maybe a series of stories.
“Then I started talking to people in Richard’s hometown, up in Stratford, Ontario, and in particular, John Till,” Lewis says. Till was the guitarist in Manuel’s first serious band, the Revols, when they were teens, and later led the Full Tilt Boogie Band, which eventually became Janis Joplin’s band.
“After that conversation, I walked away and I’m like, ‘All right, there’s more here than just something on my website,’” he says.
“Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from The Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band,” is the book Lewis wrote after deep dives into archival materials and original interviews with old friends and family members, and musician pals and collaborators such as Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, John Sebastian, and John Hammond Jr.
His goal in the book: To shine a light on the life and music of Manuel, who sang lead vocals of many of the Band’s songs, played piano on most and drummed on some too, yet also struggled with alcohol and drugs and died by suicide in 1986 at 42, a final act which for some came to overshadow Manuel’s music and humanity.
“This is basically the book I wanted to read about Richard,” he says. “From a blog piece, for lack of a better term, to a full 400-page tome that I’m proud of that Richard has now.
“That makes me feel so good,” Lewis says. “That it encourages you to go out and find this music and revisit or discover it.”
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Lewis discussed tracking down Manuel’s oldest friends in Canada, learning what Manuel and Dylan bonded over, and finding surprises as he dug into the history of Manuel and the Band.
Q: Tell me about your early interest in the Band and Richard, in particular.
A: I saw “The Last Waltz” [director Martin Scorsese’s 1978 concert film] and I remember wondering about all these guys. And as I revisited that movie, Richard, as he did to a lot of people, there was just something about him that was like, “Wow, man, what is up with this guy?” I mean, he’s silly. He seems a little, like, elegantly wasted. What’s up here?
So I think the seed [for the book] was planted way back in my early 20s. Then, as I matured as a writer and learned a little bit more, it was like, let’s take this someplace and see if my assumptions about the guy are correct. And there was a lot more to this guy.
Q: His earliest years were mostly unknown to me. How did you make your way into that world?
A: The most important thing early on, I felt that I didn’t need approval but that Richard’s family, especially when you’re talking about a painful subject, needed to be aware. Again, not permission but just an awareness of this guy’s doing this, this is what his intentions are – and that I could be trusted.
And I went up there and explained it to his family in Stratford and John Till and the Kamulskys. Kenny [Kamulsky was the bass player in Richard’s band the Revols, and his brother was instrumental in connecting me with a lot of these people.
And things just started to happen. I was walking the streets of Stratford, and I would have people come up. One lady came up to me and said, “I was a nurse at the hospital when Richard’s mom was there, and Richard would show up late at night so it wouldn’t disturb anybody.” Just tidbits of information. I started to see this picture.
Q: And his family in particular?
A: They never doubted me, whether it was his son, whether it was his daughter, either of his wives. They trusted that my intentions were not to write something salacious because I wasn’t interested in that. I was interested in his music. We all know what happened. He was kind of defined by this tragic life. I told Richard’s son, “There’s an elephant in the room. We’re not going to beat it to death.”
He emailed me recently and said, “I appreciate what you did. I didn’t know my dad that well, and I’m learning about my dad because of this.” It means a lot that they trusted me to do this, and just were supportive the entire way, especially, as you can see, with the images and things like that they contributed.
Q: In your telling, Richard seems like a lovable guy, at least before things got darker later. A guy you’d have liked if you met him.
A: That’s the thing, too, with all these people. It’s because of his humanity. I had dinner with Chuck Kelly, his childhood friend who I quote a lot. Before we left, he goes, “I just have one request for you. When you find a cover photo, just have Richard smiling. Because that’s how we all remember Richard, that smile.”
Q: That is a really great portrait on the cover.
A: I was lucky enough to source that photo, which was unreleased. We found it on a contact sheet; the negative didn’t exist, and the estate of David Gahr allowed me to pull it off this contact sheet and use it for the cover.
Q: Other than his Stratford youth, what were some unexpected discoveries you found in later life?
A: It’s said that Richard stopped writing music. And that never happened, no matter the condition he was in. He always tried to record and write music. That being said, he may not have presented it to his bandmates for fear of vetting and some self-confidence issues that started to crop up with him.
There was one point in Robbie’s book where they were about to kick Richard out of the Band because he was in such bad shape. That same time period, there’s a player in Woodstock, Jon Gershen, from the band Borderline, and he’s like, “I was at Richard’s house and the guy’s playing music, writing songs. He came to our sessions and was willing to contribute, and was writing melodic pieces to add to our music.”
I found a lot of that, especially towards the end of his life. That’s one of the most painful parts of the book, that he had six or seven originals he was working on that he had in his pocket. He had written a song with Goffin and King that he had ready to go called “Breaking New Ground.”
Q: It’s also clear in the book how much Richard’s vocals, and his blues inspirations like Bobby Bland and Ray Charles, meant to the Band.
Q: I’d heard Levon say, “Richard is our lead singer; we thought he was the lead singer.” But no joke, he was the guy. I had people telling me that when they were playing at Tony Marts in Atlantic City, that guys were driving up there because they heard about this skinny dude with the big nose who was singing James Brown.
Q: After Dylan hired the Band when he went electric, they eventually ended up near each other in Woodstock. What did you learn about their relationship?
A: After “The Basement Tapes” [which Dylan recorded with the Band], I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Bob Dylan’s singing on “John Wesley Harding” and “Nashville Skyline” was completely different than it was on “Blonde on Blonde.” I think working with those guys, Richard and Rick in the basement, it went back and forth. They all taught each other things.
The collaboration with Richard on “Tears of Rage” too. Bob wasn’t really a collaborator at that point in his career. I was told by Rob Fraboni, who produced “Planet Waves,” the Dylan album with the Band, that Bob and Richard really bonded over humor. They both had a really kind of dry, odd sense of humor.
There’s a little vignette in the book about Richard making a comment that Dylan always sings sharp, and Bob’s like, “Yeah, it’s because I want to.” It was this bouncing back of sly asides and jokes. I’m really proud of a photo that the Barry Feinstein estate gave me. It shows the whole group backstage and Richard and Bob just looking at each other, both with these huge grins in the midst of this belly laugh. I think that kind of sums it up.
I really wish I could have spoken with Bob. His camp was very kind and contributed photos. The best line I could use was from his “Theme Time Radio Hour,” where he referred to Richard – I’m paraphrasing – as a beautiful voice with an unquiet soul.
Q: You do eventually address Richard’s suicide after a show in Florida in March 1986. How do you understand that darker side of his life?
A: Richard was the kind of guy if he met you on the street, especially in Woodstock in the ’60s, and someone’s like, “Hey, I’ve got this, let’s go party at your house,” Richard’s like, “Yeah, who else wants to come? Let’s all go.” That was part of what people treasured about him, but it was also his undoing.
Then on the second and third [Band] records, once he realized that the most popular songs were being written by Robbie and sung by Levon, not that he had anything against them, I just think his self-confidence took a hit.
There were just a whole array of things. He had a baby, and all these things just piled on. You throw a bunch of alcohol into the mix and it’s nothing really good. He tried to quit drinking and turned to other things. Those grabbed ahold of him.
Everybody I talked to said he tried, and he was so close. That’s just the saddest part. Eric Clapton and Richard were really like two trains running side by side. The comments [Clapton] made were so insightful in understanding what Richard was going through because Eric, the only difference is Eric is still with us.
Eric got sober right after Richard passed. He told me, “You know, I just had a support system in place.” That’s not to blame anybody that Richard was around, but the environment he was in wasn’t conducive to him staying sober.
Q: The chapter on his death is simple, direct and shorter than most that precede it.
A: I tried to keep a lot of joy in the book. It tore me up at the end. Both my editor and myself, when we got to the end of the book, we read the final chapter, we were both just … .
And she looks at me and she says, “Did you think it was going to end differently?” And I’m like, “Yeah, I really did. You know, I really did.”
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