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Solo Essentials: Richard Manuel

There isn't a solo catalog here to guide anyone through. Manuel never released a solo album, the only one of the group's three lead singers who didn't, and his death in 1986 closed off any chance that he ever would.

What exists instead is scattered guest and session work. During a sober stretch in the late 1970s, living at Garth Hudson's ranch outside Malibu, Manuel contributed instrumental work to Robbie Robertson's early film scoring for Martin Scorsese, playing on cues for Raging Bull and The King of Comedy alongside Hudson. Beyond that, his recorded legacy sits almost entirely within the group's own catalog rather than anywhere separate from it.

The honest recommendation for anyone specifically chasing Manuel's voice: his lead vocals on the Band's own records, "Tears of Rage," "I Shall Be Released," "Whispering Pines," "The Shape I'm In," are the entire body of work. There's no solo shopping list to build here, and pretending otherwise wouldn't serve anyone looking for one. His member page covers what does exist of his story in full.