Rock Superstar Elton John gives credit to one of his greatest inspirations, Leon Russell.
Leon's credits include A Song For You, This Masquerade, Delta Lady, Hummingbird Rainbow In Your Eyes, Lady Blue, Back To The Island.
Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016)
Russell was an American musician and songwriter with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and roll, country, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, southern rock, blues rock, folk, surf and the Tulsa sound.
His recordings earned six gold records and he received two Grammy Awards from seven nominations. In 1973 Billboard named Russell the "Top Concert Attraction in the World". In 2011, he was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fameand the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
I had the pleasure of attending one of his live performances and followed him with a film camera.
Leon Russell was the featured act of Holiday Jam '74, a music festival that included six bands. Among them were The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Band.
https://youtu.be/tVJcdnNimP0?si=P_r648bxa3M9Jo8e
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kqPYesxrWLur9aS7xJ1UMflUFFigYv5cQ&si=6mfFprrfAvjW6aMU
Russell was born with 'spastic paralysis', aka cerebral palsy". An injury at birth damaged his second and third vertebrae, causing a slight paralysis in the right side of his body, most notably affecting three fingers on his right hand which caused Russell to favor his left hand and develop his signature left-hand-dominant piano playing style. He said "My chops have always been sort of weak... I have damaged nerve endings on the right side, so my piano style comes from designing stuff I can play with my right hand". He said that the condition helped him become "very aware of the duality involved in our plane of existence here". He also had a limp caused by the same condition that was once thought to be due to polio. Russell said "I felt like the world had cheated me big time" but added "If I hadn't had the problem, I probably wouldn't have gotten into music at all and would have been an ex-football player, selling insurance in Des Moines"