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The (Nashville) Tennessean

Southern rock icon Leon Russell, famed for his flowing white hair, ever-present hats and unpolished voice, died Sunday morning in his sleep at his Nashville home. He was 74.

No cause of death was given on his official website and Facebook page, but the singer, songwriter and musician had suffered a heart attack in July and underwent bypass surgery, forcing him off the road to recuperate.

Russell, a member of the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame, performed, toured and recorded with a wide-ranging roster of performers over his nearly six-decade career, including Elton John, Willie Nelson, George Harrison and Joe Cocker.

Russell's A Song for You has been recorded by more than three dozen artists (Ray Charles won a Grammy Award for his version). His work spanned genres, and over the years several artists found chart success by recording his songs, including Cocker (Delta Lady), The Carpenters (Superstar), B.B. King (Hummingbird) and George Benson (This Masquerade).

"His style was accessible and he spoke to me in ways that other rock piano players of the day — Billy Joel and Elton John — didn’t," says Barry Walsh, a Nashville pianist who counts Russell among his most important musical influences. "He was rootsy and wrote incredible songs. ... He had this persona that was mysterious and just so powerful."

Elton John remembers 'mentor, inspiration' Leon Russell

Claude Russell Bridges was born in Lawton, Okla., on April 2, 1942. He began learning piano at the age of four; by his early teens, he was playing in Tulsa nightclubs. Following his high school graduation, Russell toured with Jerry Lee Lewis for a few months, then moved to Los Angeles and found work as a session musician. As part of the Wrecking Crew, a collective of elite studio musicians, Russell played piano on a number of hit songs.

As a solo artist, Russell's most successful years came in the 1970s, beginning with his eponymous solo debut in 1970 and subsequent releases Leon Russell and the Shelter People and Carney. He also made records with his then-wife Mary Russell and country star Willie Nelson and released the first of multiple country albums he made under the name Hank Wilson.

Russell was a captivating live performer. In 1971, he wowed crowds at the star-studded Concert for Bangladesh with a scorching medley of Jumpin' Jack Flash and Youngblood. Two years later, The Tennessean wrote of one of his live shows: “A Leon Russell show is inevitably more than an aural experience. The crowd provided strawberry incense, fluorescent Frisbees, and clouds of smoke, tobacco and otherwise. Excited fans standing in front of the stage bent double, (and) pounded their arms with the rhythm of the music.”

"He was the guy who was always second on the bill," said singer/songwriter Gretchen Peters, who saw Russell perform several times in the '70s, including the time he toured with the Rolling Stones. "He was really, really different than the (headlining) rock bands I was there to see. ... He was outlandish and had this twangy kind of delivery. There was nothing else like it."

Though he continued to tour and record in the late 1980s, '90s and beyond, Russell's studio output didn't receive much attention outside of his dedicated fan base until he got a call from Elton John.

The pop legend, a longtime fan of Russell's music, asked him to collaborate on an album that would become The Union. "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, not just musically, but emotionally," John told USA TODAY. "I fell in love with this guy all over again."

Released in 2010, the album produced by T Bone Burnett hit No. 3 on Billboard album chart and the Russell-penned opening track If It Wasn’t for Bad was nominated for a pop vocal collaboration Grammy.

"I don't know a thing about charts and that stuff, largely because I was never in it," Russell told USA TODAY upon the album's release, acknowledging that he was overwhelmed by the attention. "I'm in this huge place, a place I've never been, even at the top of my success. ... They're interested in what I'm doing."

Russell released his last solo studio album, Life Journey, in 2014.

Contributing: Edna Gundersen