Drowned in drink and lost in legend: The forgotten genius of The Band’s Richard Manuel

Stephen T Lewis: ‘Richard got lost in the wars between those two alpha males’ - (Schiffer Publishing Ltd)

When The Band filmed their final live performance for the classic concert film The Last Waltz in 1976, they meant to sum up a career so consequential that it altered the course of rock history. Yet, one of the musicians most responsible for that impact, Richard Manuel, is barely found on screen. Other than the lone lead vocal he’s allowed, and a few strange interview bits, Manuel is reduced to a tiny figure on the lower left corner of the screen, literally sidelining him.

“If you watched the film and weren’t a hardcore Band fan, you’d have no idea about the depth of this guy’s contributions to the music,” says Stephen T Lewis, who has written the first book to fully examine Manuel’s life and art. “The fact that The Band didn’t play one Richard-penned song on the most important night of their career says it all. He was marginalised.”