Garreth Hudson, the last living member of The Band, died earlier this week. He was 87.

Hudson, who played keyboard and saxophone for the famed 1960s-era band, passed away at a nursing home in Woodstock, New York, his state executor confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.

Born in Windsor and later living in Ontario, Hudson found his way to the Canadian quintet in 1965 after an accomplished career with the Hawks. His iconic organist performances gave the group its sound, nowhere more so than in the hit song “Chest Fever.”

Bob Dylan originally introduced Hudson to guitarist Robbie Robertson, bass player Rick Danko and keyboardist/singer Richard Manuel, causing him to split with Hawks members Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm and join Dylan on the road for his 1966 “electric” tour across United States, Australia and Europe. Hudson’s solo performance in “Chest Fever” was included in the Band’s first album, “Music from Big Pink,” and was later expanded into an improvisational introduction at the start of the group’s concerts.

Across less than nine years, Hudson and the Band left an indelible mark on modern rock ‘n’ roll. His passion for pushing the boundaries of sounds led Hudson to experiment with wah-wah pedals through his clavinet, a pairing that was later adopted by many funk musicians in the 1970s.

Hudson’s seemingly endless diversity as a musician contributed to his fame. At various points in his career, he has performed tenor, baritone, and soprano saxophones, piccolo, accordion, synthesizer, clavinet, slide trumpet, and occasional piano.

He is the last of the Band’s nine members to pass away, forever closing a historic chapter of music that gave birth to some of the group’s biggest hits, including “The Weight” (1968), “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (1969), and “Up on Cripple Creek” (1969). The Band’s eponymous second album, “The Band,” has been called the “second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll” by Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.

The original five-man ensemble gave their final performance in 1976, though they briefly reunited in 1983 for a short series of performances minus Robertson, who had taken up a new career in film composition. Manuel was the first to die of substance abuse in 1986.

The Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 after having been credited with giving rise to the genre of “country soul,” which inspired countless musicians as varied as Dylan to soul singer Aretha Franklin, who famously recorded her own tribute performance of “The Weight” in 1969.

Maud Hudson, his wife of 43 years and longtime musical partner, died in February 2022, according to Variety.