R.I.P. Leon Russell

[OSJ]

We all have heroes, and that's a good thing. I lost one of mine last night... I man I've never met and only been fortunate enough to see perform a handful of times, but since I was twelve years of age, this man has been a hero to me. I don't need to tell anyone here how much 2016 sucks, it seems like just a couple of hours ago, the brilliant Leonard Cohen left us; and now, now we've lost Leon Russell. You can't listen to any record from the late 1960s on without wondering if Leon had something to do with it... Who was bigger, Sinatra or the Beatles? Doesn't matter, they both knew who to go to for piano... Yeah, Leon played on "Strangers in the Night" and too many Beatles records to count... The list of people he backed up reads like a who's who of modern music. We're not going to see a talent like this anytime soon. Godspeed, Mr. Russell and thanks for all the music.