Garth Hudson has died aged 87

Ontario-born Garth died early on Tuesday morning at a nursing home in Woodstock, New York, his decades-long friend and occasional collaborator Jan Haust told the newspaper.

Jan - who had known Hudson for decades but couldn't visit him in his final days - said the multi-instrumentalist virtuoso died "peacefully in his sleep" after a day of "music and hand-holding" with close friends.

He hailed Garth as an intensely private man who was a "gentleman in a rock-and-roll world".

Jan added: "There's three keyboard players out of Canada from his era. One of course, being Oscar Peterson. And then, of course, Glenn Gould. And then Garth Hudson.

"He wove incredible musical tapestries and embellished the words and embellished the songs of not only (The Band's lead singer and guitarist) Robbie Robertson, but a whole host of other artists with whom he performed over the years.

"From Leonard Cohen to Norah Jones to Van Morrison. People invited Garth to come and do whatever he pleased on their records. And he did."

The Band shot to fame with their 1968 debut album Music From Big Pink and are renowned for hits including 'The Weight' and their work touring and recording with Bob Dylan.

Its members disbanded after their world-famous farewell show 'The Last Waltz' in San Francisco on Thanksgiving 1976, which was filmed by Martin Scorsese.

Born Eric Garth Hudson in Windsor, Ontario, in 1937, Garth came from a musical family and studied piano at the Toronto Conservatory.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Band in 1994 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2008.

His wife of 43 years Maud Hudson died in February 2022.