Janis Joplin's keyboardist dead at 61

Keyboardist and songwriter Richard Bell died Friday, June 15, after a long battle with multiple myeloma. The son of Canadian conductor, musician, and educator, Dr. Leslie Bell, Richard began playing piano at age four, and studied at Canada's Royal Conservatory of Music. Bell joined Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band in 1970 and appeared on her posthumously-released album Pearl which featured "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Mercedes Benz." Later he joined The Band and performed on three of their albums. As a studio musician, Bell played with artists such as Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, and the Cowboy Junkies on over 400 albums. He played on John Sebastian's album Welcome Back, which included the hit theme song for the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. Bell recently played with the Toronto jazz/blues/roots group Pork Belly Futures and on the Burrito Deluxe comeback album this spring. He was 61.

Sources: theglobeandmail.com, Yahoo! News, thestar.com