Robbie Robertson, beloved guitarist, songwriter and frontman of The Band, died after an unspecified long illness on Wednesday (Aug. 9). He was 80 years old.
Robertson’s longtime manager, Jared Levine, shared the devastating news in a statement: “Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife, Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine, and Delphine’s partner Kenny. He is also survived by his grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel, and Seraphina. Robertson recently completed his fourteenth film music project with frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River to support a new Woodland Cultural Centre.”
The Toronto, Ontario-born artist began playing guitar at age 10, and at just 16 years old he joined drummer Levon Helm in the Hawks, the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins. The Hawks went on to play with Bob Dylan on his legendary Going Electric tours in 1965 and 1966, and recorded the seminal “basement tapes” with the legend before changing their group’s name to The Band. They released their debut Music From Big Pink album in 1968, which featured the Robertson-penned classic, “The Weight,” and the group performed at Woodstock Festival a year later.
Robertson was the sole writer of The Band’s first four hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “The Weight” (peaked at No. 63), “Up on Cripple Creek” (No. 25), “Rag Mama Rag” (No. 57), and “Time to Kill” (No. 77). He was also the sole writer of the biggest hit Joan Baez ever had, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” which reached No. 3 in 1971.
After eight years as a band, Robertson ended the group in 1976, culminating in The Band’s legendary farewell concert, The Last Waltz. Dylan, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison,…
Read the full article here
