Leslie West, âMississippi Queenâ Rocker, Is Dead at 75
He rose to fame with Mountain, which Rolling Stone called a âlouder version of Creamâ â a band Mr. West idolized. One of the groupâs first gigs was Woodstock.
Leslie West with his band West, Bruce and Laing at the Rainbow in London in 1973. “I wanted to have the greatest, biggest tone,” he said of his guitar playing, “and I wanted vibrato like somebody who plays violin in a hundred-piece orchestra.”Credit.Fin Costello/Redferns
By Jim Farber
Dec. 23, 2020
Leslie West, whose meaty guitar riffs and snarling lead lines powered the hit band Mountain through âMississippi Queenâ and other rock anthems of the 1970s, died on Wednesday in Palm Coast, Fla. He was 75.