Killian’s Album, Made In His Final Days With Cancer — At 16

Levon Helm; Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Many ambitious young musicians might be thrilled to play, and record, with legends like Levon Helm, John Pizzarelli or John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful. For Killian Mansfield, who died at 16 last summer of a rare cancer, synovial sarcoma, that invades tissue and bone, making a CD was his final wish. The album cover of “Somewhere Else” is a photo of him, sepia-tinted, at a small-town train station near his home in upstate New York.

Phil Mansfield, his Dad — and a friend and colleague of ours who is a freelance photographer — took the photo and those accompanying this story in New York magazine. We met Killian a few years ago when his cancer was in remission and Phil and Babs had moved out of the city to run a local general store and cafe. Babs is an amazing cook, Phil a fun, warm, energetic man and their commitment to their community of West Shokan touched many locals, some of them well-known musicians.

“The fact he was a kid, the fact he was sick — I forgot about that in two minutes,” Sebastian says. “He was a pro, someone who knew how to express himself fully with an instrument.” Adds Pizzarelli: “When I got there, I thought I was on a kind of playdate, right? Then Killian starts playing his ukelele and I was like Oh really?” He knew chord voicings that, for a lack of a better way of putting it, I knew. Soon he was showing me things. No joke, the kid was totally schooling me.”

Money raised from sales of the album will go to Hope & Heroes, a program at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital helping children with cancer.