On March 3, 1986, The Band played a concert at the Cheek to Cheek Lounge outside Orlando, in Winter Park, Florida. The next day, Richard Manuel was found dead in his room at the Quality Inn & Suites Winter Park Village Area.
According to the autopsy report, sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. Richard slipped the end of a belt through the buckle and around his neck. He looped the other end of the belt twice around the shower curtain rod. Then, police say, he simply sat down hard.
Manuel appeared in good spirits during the concert but made a somewhat foreboding remark, thanking bandmate Garth Hudson for 25 years of music. A blood toxicology report indicated that Manuel was drunk and had ingested cocaine the day he died. His wife, Arlie Manuel, found his body the next morning.
Studio Albums By The Band:
Music from Big Pink – Released: July 1, 1968
The Band – Released: September 22, 1969
Stage Fright – Released: August 17, 1970
Cahoots – Released: September 15, 1971
Moondog Matinee – Released: October 15, 1973
Northern Lights – Southern Cross – Released: November 1, 1975
Islands – Released: March 15, 1977
Jericho – Released: November 2, 1993
High on the Hog – Released: February 27, 1996
Jubilation – Released: September 15, 1998
Quality Inn & Suites
626 Lee Rd.
Orlando FL 32810
Manuel died at the Langford Resort Hotel on what is now N. Orlando Ave in Winter Park, according to local accounts. The hotel closed and was demolished in the early 2000’s but had housed guests such as Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, and the Reagan’s for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. While the physical address of the Quality Inn listed is correct, it is not where Manuel took his life. Also, this particular Quality Inn has not been part of the hotel chain until recently. The Cheek to Cheek lounge (now a CVS) was a very short walk from the Langford.
All the reports at that time listed it as the Quality Inn. Of course, they could all be repeating one piece of erroneous information.
I was in the motel that night – doing a lot of illegal drugs as was my wont. I didn’t even know that he was there until the police (Winter Park PD & Orange County Sheriff’s Department) arrived, seriously crashing my buzz, particularly being that I was on parole at the time and definitely did not want to go back to Florida State Prison. The sign outside the building said “Quality Inn” I lived in the Orlando / Winter Park / Casselberry / Altamonte Springs area for about 20 years so I was pretty familiar with most of the motels in the area and saw a great many performers at Cheek To Cheek, including, but not limited to Stanley Clarke, Phoebe Snow, Gato Barbieri (sp?) and many more. I never knew about the Langford Resort Hotel. By the way, the motel was located at (or very near) the intersection of N. Orlando Ave – also known as FL Highway 17-92 which shortly south of there merges into the Orange Blossom Trail (OBT) – and Lee Road. In any case, it was indeed a very sad night, although I was very much relieved to realize that the police were not there for me. Thank God, I’m now almost 30 years clean and sober.
Congrats on your 30 years of sobriety, Brother. Sad that Richard Manuel hadn’t committed to recovery, as well. He’d likely have lived well beyond 1986,
I think it is aweful to tear down a place with so much of our early music history God bless you Richard!
I’m trying to figure out the name and location of a club where I went dancing in the early 80s. I thought the name was Barnabys, or something close to that. It was in an urban area in San Francisco, had multiple floors, and a balcony from which you could gaze at other buildings. Does anyone have an idea what/where this might have been?