Leon Russell & George Harrison - Reunited

Leon joined his old pal today. The name won't mean a lot to most on here but he was a top musician.

They collaborated a lot on records and on stage, notably George's Concert For Bangladesh in 1971.

RIP Leon.

 

Great musician, penned Superstar and Song for You for Carpenters, Delta Lady for Joe Cocker, was a top session man as well as solo artist and a huge influence on a young Elton John....Tumbleweed days, they recorded an album the Union about 6 years ago and toured to promote it, saw them at Camden Roundhouse, excellent, RIP

 

Yes, one of those that I always thought of more as a top session man rather than a star in his own right.

One of those essential cogs that keeps any show running.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3D68KWfZOo

Here's a video clip from the song Beware of Darkness from the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, with George singing and Leon on keyboards, and also singing a verse two minutes in.

I can't believe that was FORTY FIVE years ago! These shows still go on - benefits for humanitarian tragedies in different places. Do they make a difference? Maybe temporarily, but not permanently. Extract from Wiki below, in case anyone is interested:

The Concert for Bangladesh (or Bangla Desh, as the country was originally spelled) was the collective name for two benefit concerts organised by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison and Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar. The concerts were held at 2:30 and 8:00 pm on Sunday, 1 August 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The shows were organised to raise international awareness and fund relief efforts for refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide. The concerts were followed by a bestselling live album, a boxed three-record set, and Apple Films' concert documentary, which opened in cinemas in the spring of 1972.

The event was the first-ever benefit concert of such a magnitude and featured a supergroup of performers that included Harrison, fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and the band Badfinger. In addition, Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan – both of whom had ancestral roots in Bangladesh – performed an opening set of Indian classical music. Decades later, Shankar would say of the overwhelming success of the event: "In one day, the whole world knew the name of Bangladesh. It was a fantastic occasion ..."