THE BAND Co-Founder ROBBIE ROBERTSON Dead At 80

Robbie joined Ronnie Hawkins’ backup band, THE HAWKS, in 1960, which eventually included future bandmates Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson. His distinct guitar approach on songs like “Who Do You Love” helped to usher in an era of classic bluesy rock and impacted many performers. THE HAWKS supported Bob Dylan on his first electrified world tour in 1965, and the following year, Robertson created the unmistakable guitar solos on Dylan’s “Blonde On Blonde.” Other Dylan recordings would be released as “The Basement Tapes” later on.

THE BAND said goodbye to live performance in 1976 with the grandiose “The Last Waltz” concert on Thanksgiving night. Guests included Dylan, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell at San Francisco’s Winterland. Martin Scorsese’s concert film and a three-record box set were released in 1978 and are regarded classics in each media. The final BAND studio album with Robertson was “Islands” (1977). He then produced Neil Diamond’s “Love At The Greek” live CD (he had directed Diamond’s “Beautiful Noise” the year before).

Robertson, who had a long fascination with film, co-wrote, produced, performed in, and created the source music for “Carny” (1979), starring Gary Busey and Jodie Foster. He was one of the first rock ‘n’ rollers to truly engage in cinema music, creating and producing music for Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” (1980), “King Of Comedy” (1983), and “The Colour Of Money” (1986), which includes “It’s In The Way That You Use It” co-written with Clapton. He served as a creative consultant on Taylor Hackford’s film “Hail, Hail Rock & Roll,” a tribute to Chuck Berry.

Robertson released his self-titled debut album in 1987, which featured guests Peter Gabriel and U2 as well as the song “Somewhere Down The Crazy River.” The album was certified gold and nominated for a Grammy, and it swept the JUNOs. Robertson reunited with THE BAND for an awards ceremony performance after THE BAND was inducted into the Juno Hall Of Fame. “Storyville” (1991), his second solo album, included some of New Orleans’ most regarded musicians and won him two additional Grammy nominations. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart’s “Broken Arrow” became a tremendous smash.

In 1994, THE BAND was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and performed live at the ceremony. On the film front, Robertson scored Barry Levinson‘s “Jimmy Hollywood” and acted in “The Crossing Guard”, starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Sean Penn. On record, “Music For The Native Americans” from ROBBIE ROBERTSON & THE RED ROAD ENSEMBLEcontained songs from the soundtrack to the highly regarded television mini-series.

Robertson continued his multimedia activities in 1995 by producing the soundtrack album for Scorsese‘s “Casino” and being the subject of “Going Home”, a Disney Channel documentary highlighting his revisiting the moments, people and places of his musical past.

The next year, executive soundtrack producer Robertson heard a demo of “Change The World” and sent it to Clapton as a suggestion for “Phenomenon”, starring John Travolta. He enlisted Babyface to produce and “Change The World” won Grammys for Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year. Also in 1997, Robertson received a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters.

His fourth solo album, the Grammy-nominated “Contact From The Underworld Of Redboy” (1998),inspired the one-hour PBS documentary “Robbie Robertson: Making A Noise”, which took viewers along on his journey back to the Six Nations Reservation, where his mother was born and raised and where Robertson spent his summers first learning to play guitar.

Robertson has since consulted for, produced or supervised music for numerous films, including “American Beauty” (1999),“Any Given Sunday”(1999),“Gangs Of New York” (2002),“The Departed” (2006) and “Shutter Island”(2009). In 2008, THE BAND was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bio courtesy of Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame