Hudson’s keyboard was an essential element of the Band's sound on roots-rock classics such as 'The Weight' and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.'

He was the last of The Band's five members—four Canadians and an Arkansas drummer—who turned popular music on its ear in 1968.

Garth Hudson, the last living member of roots-rock group the Band, is dead at 87. Hudson died in his sleep at a nursing home in Woodstock, the Toronto Star reports. He was a classically trained pianist and organist who dropped out of earning a music degree to play in bands.

The last surviving original member of the Band died on Tuesday. He was a master on keys and saxophones who could conjure a panoply of scenes and eras.

The oldest and only classically trained member of The Band, Garth Hudson was best known for his distinctive Lowrey organ work on songs like "Chest Fever."

Garth Hudson, the multi-instrumentalist who served as the principal architect of the Band's sound, has died at 87.

Garth Hudson, the Band's virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician who drew from a unique palette of sounds and styles to add a conversational touch to such rock standards as "Up on Cripple Creek," “The Weight” and "Rag Mama Rag,

Garth Hudson, the keyboardist, sax player and archivist for Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Band, died January 21 in his sleep in Woodstock, NY. He was 87.

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The Band's last living member, Garth Hudson, has died. He passed away Tuesday morning, while sleeping in a New York nursing home, outlets report. Hudson was 87 years old.

It's so fitting that Garth Hudson was the last man standing from the Band. The beloved organ virtuoso died on Tuesday morning at 87, near Woodstock - just a few miles down the road from Big Pink, the house where the Band and Bob Dylan transformed music history just by jamming in the basement.

Garth Hudson's final public performance has been shared online after The Band's legendary multi-instrumentalist's passing, leaving fans all making the same comments