Leslie West, the singer and guitarist for the band Mountain, whose 11-song set at Woodstock cemented their place in rock history, died Tuesday at the age of 75, his brother, Larry West Weinstein, told Variety Wednesday. West’s brother had previously shared that the musician was in poor health, writing on Facebook Sunday, “I am asking for all your prayers. Jenni [West’s wife] is by his side in Florida but it’s not looking good. Thanks Jenni, he wouldn’t have made it this far without you. His heart gave out and he’s on a ventilator. May not make it through the night.”
While Mountain’s original run lasted from only 1969 to 1972, Variety noted that the band has been considered a touchstone in the ’70s development of hard rock with its signature heavy sound. In 2019, West looked back on his performance at Woodstock with Rolling Stone in honor of the festival’s 50th anniversary: “Woodstock was just our third job, and it was quite a thrill,” he said at the time. “Mountain got on the show because our booking agent also handled Jimi Hendrix. … I think I had the most amplifiers of anybody there. It was paralyzing because that stage, that setting, was some kind of natural amphitheater. The sound was so loud and shocking that I got scared. But once I started playing, I just kept going because I was afraid to stop.”
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West is often heralded as one of the best rock guitarists, but in a 1987 interview with Guitar World magazine, downplayed his own skills. “I’m no great guitarist technically,” he said. “I only play with these two fingers [index and ring]. But you wanna know why people remember me? If you take a hundred players and put them in a room, 98 or 99 of ’em are gonna sound the same; the one who plays different, has some of his own, that’s the one you’re gonna remember.”
Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” has gone on to be a hit not only in the rock genre, but as a popular sample in the hip-hop and pop genres. “It’s a song that keeps on giving. A lot of people have covered it,” West told Guitar Player this year. “I like most of the versions, but I really like the one that Ozzy Osbourne did. I even played on it. The song has been sampled something like 2,000 times. Every time I hear it, I call my accountant.”
West’s health has long been an issue. Although he admitted to have “stopped fooling with narcotics” since the late ’70s, he would develop diabetes in the mid-’80s, which would eventually lead to his lower right leg being amputated. Following the amputation, he lost 85 lbs., but his weight was something that would fluctuate over the years.
