Memorials

[ksquared]

Robbie Robertson, The Band co-founder and guitarist, dead at 80
By Erin Keller August 9, 2023 5:16pm Updated
(We lost another one. Rest in peace, Mr. Robertson. Your music was/is wonderful.
There are a lot more pictures at the link.)

(L-R) Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson of The Band pose for a group portrait in London in 1971.
Redferns

Robbie Robertson, the guitarist-songwriter-singer who lead the Canadian-American 1970s rock group The Band, has died. He was 80.

Robertson’s longtime manager, Jared Levine, confirmed his death to The Post on Wednesday, saying Robertson died in Los Angeles after a long illness.

“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,” Levine said in a statement.

“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 the building of their new cultural center.”

Born Jaime Royal Robertson on July 5, 1943, Robertson had roots in the Mohawk community at the Six Nations Reserve outside of Toronto and the Jewish enclave of the city’s downtown.

At age 10, he began playing guitar, and in 1960 at the age of 16, he joined drummer Levon Helm in the Hawks, the backing band for rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins.

The Hawks went on to play with Bob Dylan on his legendary “Going Electric” tours in 1965 and 1966. Moving to Woodstock in 1967, Robertson and his bandmates recorded the seminal “basement tapes” with Dylan before changing their name to The Band and releasing the groundbreaking “Music from Big Pink” album in 1968.

Robertson was known for writing some of the group’s classic songs, including “The Weight,” “Up On Cripple Creek,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “The Shape I’m In,” and “It Makes No Difference.”

By 1978, Robertson claimed every member of The Band was struggling with drugs and/or alcohol, so he made the decision that the group would be done touring, which led to its demise.

“Our musical ability was disappearing before my eyes,” he told The Week in 2015. “You’re in a place and it’s on fire and you say, ‘I’ve got to get out of here.’”

Robertson was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (1989) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994) as a member of The Band.

He also joined Canada’s Walk of Fame as a solo act in 2003 and with The Band in 2014.

In 2019, Robertson received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame.

Robertson and Scorsese became collaborators after the famed director captured The Band’s farewell concert in 1976 for “The Last Waltz.”

Starting in 1980, Robertson scored many of Scorsese’s films, including “Raging Bull,” “The King of Comedy,” “The Color of Money,” “Gangs of New York,” “The Departed,” “Shutter Island,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Silence,” “The Irishman,” and “Killers of The Flower Moon.”

Robertson released his solo album in 1987 and would go on to release five more albums. His solo hits include “Somewhere Down the Crazy River,” “Shine Your Light,” and “Broken Arrow.”

In 2016, Robertson released his memoir “Testimony,” which was made into the 2019 documentary film “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson And The Band.”

At the time of his death, Robertson was writing his follow-up memoir and had just finished scoring Scorsese’s “Killers of The Flower Moon” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro, which is due out Oct. 6.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/09/robbie-robertson-the-band-co-founder-and-guitarist-dead-at-80/