Robbie Robertson, lead guitarist and songwriter of ‘The Band’, dies at 80

By AFP

NEW YORK: Robbie Robertson, guitarist and fundamental songwriter of the seminal rock group ‘The Band’, has died, his supervisor mentioned in a press release. He was 80 years previous.

As the ringleader of the Canadian-American group, Robertson penned The Band’s most iconic songs together with “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” and “Up On Cripple Creek.”

His supervisor mentioned in a press release Robertson was surrounded by household on the time of his dying, which adopted “a long illness.”

Prior to his work and management with The Band, Robertson was a key collaborator with none aside from Bob Dylan, touring with him and taking part in on the album “Blonde on Blonde.”

Born July 5, 1943, in Toronto, Canada with each Mohawk and Jewish roots, Robertson labored on travelling carnivals in his early teenage years, earlier than becoming a member of and beginning a wide range of bands.

“I’ve been playing guitar for so long I can’t remember when I started,” he instructed Rolling Stone journal in 1968. “I guess I got into rock and roll like everybody else.”

He joined the backing band of Ronnie Hawkins, a rockabilly star, when he was simply 16, the place he finally met fellow musicians, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm.

The group shaped a robust bond, and so they grew to become Dylan’s backing band within the mid-Sixties for his notorious first electrical tour.

They additionally performed with the icon on his much-bootlegged “basement tapes.”

Statement from Robbie Robertson’s household.

Luis Sinco pic.twitter.com/J9c79003D5

— Robbie Robertson (@r0bbier0berts0n) August 9, 2023

Robertson’s history-minded compositions had been masterful yarns that evoked the wilds of America and the characters who colored them, and specifically, targeted on the American South.

“The Weight” is an everyday on all-time biggest track lists. A people tune with nation and gospel parts in addition to Biblical allusion, it is thought-about a traditional of the American songbook.

The group performed Woodstock and lower a string of albums together with “Music from Big Pink,” “The Band” and “Cahoots.”

The Band cut up up in 1976 with a farewell live performance in San Francisco, immortalized on movie by director Martin Scorsese in “The Last Waltz.”

The movie, theatrically launched in 1978, has turn out to be often known as a critically acclaimed pioneering rock documentary.

It additionally ushered in Robertson’s longtime collaboration and friendship with Scorsese, who employed the guitarist as a musical supervisor on a string of his movies together with “Casino” and “Gangs of New York.”

At the time of his dying, Robertson had been engaged on a follow-up to his memoir “Testimony,” and had simply accomplished scoring Scorsese’s “Killers of The Flower Moon” which is ready for launch this fall.

Hailing his pal as “a giant,” Scorsese known as Robertson “a constant in my life and work.”

“Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life — me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys,” Scorsese mentioned in a press release.

“His effect on the art form was profound and lasting.”

Robertson did not tour once more after “The Last Waltz” however did launch a string of solo albums beginning in 1987 when he dropped “Robbie Robertson.”

He remained a beloved determine of American rock and people, each for his guitar chops and his poetry.

“I thought of a couple of words that led to a couple more,” he instructed Rolling Stone in 1969, requested how he penned the traditional “The Weight.”

“The next thing I know I wrote the song,” Robertson continued. “We just figured it was a simple song, and when it came up we gave it a try and recorded it three or four times.”

“We didn’t even know if we were going to use it.”

NEW YORK: Robbie Robertson, guitarist and fundamental songwriter of the seminal rock group ‘The Band’, has died, his supervisor mentioned in a press release. He was 80 years previous.

As the ringleader of the Canadian-American group, Robertson penned The Band’s most iconic songs together with “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” and “Up On Cripple Creek.”

His supervisor mentioned in a press release Robertson was surrounded by household on the time of his dying, which adopted “a long illness.”googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Prior to his work and management with The Band, Robertson was a key collaborator with none aside from Bob Dylan, touring with him and taking part in on the album “Blonde on Blonde.”

Born July 5, 1943, in Toronto, Canada with each Mohawk and Jewish roots, Robertson labored on travelling carnivals in his early teenage years, earlier than becoming a member of and beginning a wide range of bands.

“I’ve been playing guitar for so long I can’t remember when I started,” he instructed Rolling Stone journal in 1968. “I guess I got into rock and roll like everybody else.”

He joined the backing band of Ronnie Hawkins, a rockabilly star, when he was simply 16, the place he finally met fellow musicians, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm.

The group shaped a robust bond, and so they grew to become Dylan’s backing band within the mid-Sixties for his notorious first electrical tour.

They additionally performed with the icon on his much-bootlegged “basement tapes.”

Statement from Robbie Robertson’s household.
Luis Sinco pic.twitter.com/J9c79003D5
— Robbie Robertson (@r0bbier0berts0n) August 9, 2023
Robertson’s history-minded compositions had been masterful yarns that evoked the wilds of America and the characters who colored them, and specifically, targeted on the American South.

“The Weight” is an everyday on all-time biggest track lists. A people tune with nation and gospel parts in addition to Biblical allusion, it is thought-about a traditional of the American songbook.

The group performed Woodstock and lower a string of albums together with “Music from Big Pink,” “The Band” and “Cahoots.”

The Band cut up up in 1976 with a farewell live performance in San Francisco, immortalized on movie by director Martin Scorsese in “The Last Waltz.”

The movie, theatrically launched in 1978, has turn out to be often known as a critically acclaimed pioneering rock documentary.

It additionally ushered in Robertson’s longtime collaboration and friendship with Scorsese, who employed the guitarist as a musical supervisor on a string of his movies together with “Casino” and “Gangs of New York.”

At the time of his dying, Robertson had been engaged on a follow-up to his memoir “Testimony,” and had simply accomplished scoring Scorsese’s “Killers of The Flower Moon” which is ready for launch this fall.

Hailing his pal as “a giant,” Scorsese known as Robertson “a constant in my life and work.”

“Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life — me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Band’s music, and Robbie’s own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys,” Scorsese mentioned in a press release.

“His effect on the art form was profound and lasting.”

Robertson did not tour once more after “The Last Waltz” however did launch a string of solo albums beginning in 1987 when he dropped “Robbie Robertson.”

He remained a beloved determine of American rock and people, each for his guitar chops and his poetry.

“I thought of a couple of words that led to a couple more,” he instructed Rolling Stone in 1969, requested how he penned the traditional “The Weight.”

“The next thing I know I wrote the song,” Robertson continued. “We just figured it was a simple song, and when it came up we gave it a try and recorded it three or four times.”

“We didn’t even know if we were going to use it.”