Remembering Rocker Leon Russell

Folk rock icon Leon Russell died Sunday in his Nashville home while recuperating from the heart bypass surgery he had back in July.

Russell, who had 31 albums and more than 400 songs to his name, was perhaps best known for blues, gospel, and country hits such as “Tight Rope,” “Prince of Peace,” “Lady Blue,” and “A Song for You” — which has been recorded by more than 100 artists as varied as Ray Charles (who rode the haunting ballad to a 1993 Grammy Award), The Temptations, Donny Hathaway, Herbie Hancock, Willie Nelson, and heavy metal guitarist Zakk Wylde.

“I loved him and always will,” said one great rock star.

As storied as his recording career was, Russell had a far greater influence as a session musician, songwriter, and producer.

He was a cornerstone of The Wrecking Crew, the de facto house band for Phil Spector and his fabled “Wall of Sound” production — and his credited and uncredited recordings could fill a music catalog. Russell played it all with ease, effortlessly blending blues, country, gospel, rock, and jazz.

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By the time Russell, who was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, had broken into his solo career in the late ’60s, he’d recorded and toured with a diverse array of legendary artists such as Frank Sinatra; Eric Clapton’s Delaney & Bonnie and Friends; Herb Alpert; surf bands like Jan and Dean, The Beach Boys, and The Ventures; Bob Dylan; The Byrds; Glen Campbell; Joe Cocker; and The Rolling Stones.

As a songwriter, producer, and arranger, Russell had a startling knack for being at the right place and the right time to snap together the rare gestalt that makes good music great: He helped Bob Dylan coalesce his experiments with a new sound into hits such as “Watching the River Flow” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece”; and as musical director for Joe Cocker’s “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” tour, he presided over a band featuring a 10-piece choir, a horn section, and multiple drummers.

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Russell’s session piano work for Badfinger’s third album, “Straight Up,” hit its peak when it tied together Pete Hamm’s and George Harrison’s brilliant slide guitar duet on the smash hit “Day After Day.” And he left the “Straight Up” sessions to join Harrison’s seminal “Concert for Bangladesh” in 1971, performing an amazing mashup of The Coasters’ “Young Blood” and The Rolling Stones’ “Jumping Jack Flash.”

Of all those serendipitous matchups, though, none had the lasting influence of a handful of shows Russell shared in 1970 with a then-unknown pianist named Elton John.

Russell’s stage persona — part scruffy hippy, part ringmaster, part shaman with the nickname “Master of Time and Space” — had already deeply influenced the young British rocker before he played his first-ever U.S. shows at the Troubadour in Hollywood.

“The second night I was confident, because the first night was out of my way,” John told “NPR” in a 2010 interview. “And then halfway through ‘Burn Down the Mission,’ I’m playing the piano solo, and I glanced right — the Troubadour isn’t very big — 250 people. And I see Leon, with the silver hair and the Ray-Ban glasses. I kind of semi-panicked because this was the man I really idolized.”

The chance meeting turned into a brief series of shows in which Elton John opened for Russell, an opportunity that helped catapult John into one of the most prolific rock superstars of the ’70s and ’80s, scoring dozens of Top 10 hits, selling more than 250 million albums and eventually earning a knighthood.

Russell’s solo career was radically eclipsed by Sir Elton’s, and by 2009, despite his continued contributions as a session player, producer, and songwriter, he’d faded into relative obscurity.

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But the former acolyte never forgot his idol, and Elton called Russell one day with an unprecedented offer: He wanted Russell to join him to record “The Union” — the only duet album of Elton John’s career. His motive was simple: He wanted to help Russell the way Russell had once helped him.

“If Leon can get the accolades he deserves and be financially OK for the rest of his life, I will have done something decent with my music,” John told The New York Times after the album’s release in 2010.

The album, bringing together the two musicians for the first time in almost 40 years, achieved that goal in spades: The collaborative effort spawned a 10-date tour and a documentary film by Cameron Crowe. Russell and Elton John appeared together on “Saturday Night Live” and “The David Letterman Show,” introducing Russell to a new generation of fans, and the album rocketed to third place on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the top 30 albums of 2010.

In 2011, Russell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He started touring again, and at the time of his death had postponed shows to convalesce, hoping to start the tour again in 2017.

“Leon Russell passed away last night,” Sir Elton tweeted on Sunday. “He was a mentor, an inspiration and so kind to me. I loved him and always will.”