Richard Manuel was one of the leaders of the rock group The Band. Known as the "funny" one, Manuel was also very frail and was prone to drug use. He sang some of the group's most prominent songs, "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)", "Tears of Rage", "Whispering Pines" and "I Shall Be Released". After starring in a few films and The Band's masterpiece concert The Last Waltz (1978), Manuel hung himself by a shower curtain rod in his motel room in 1986.