Musician and Composer Robbie Robertson Has Died

Robbie Robertson, a founding guitarist of legendary musical group The Band who launched a profitable solo profession and labored carefully as a composer on Martin Scorsese’s films and extra has died. He was 80.

Early Life and music profession

Born Jaime Royal Robertson on July 5, 1943, in Toronto, he started enjoying guitar at age 10 and 6 years later joined up with Levon Helm in The Hawks. Robertson’s guitar fashion on songs corresponding to ‘Who Do You Love’ helped delivery in an period of traditional bluesy rock and influenced numerous musicians.

Robertson received his break at age 16 with Ronnie Hawkins’ The Hawks, which ultimately would function lots of his Band mates. He was Bob Dylan’s guitarist on the notorious mid-’60s ‘Going Electric’ excursions and, as chief of The Band, collaborated on groundbreaking album ‘The Basement Tapes’, serving to to invent the Americana style.

The Band hit it massive with their debut album ‘Music from Big Pink’, which included traditional observe ‘The Weight’, which graces quite a few film soundtracks (in case the title doesn’t register, take heed to this and you’ll acknowledge it instantly). In 1969, The Band performed at Woodstock and have become the primary North American rock group to seem on the quilt of Time journal.

They would go on to get pleasure from many extra hit albums and singles, and when Robertson left the band in 1976 to pursue a solo profession, the ultimate live performance was captured without end in iconic Martin Scorsese documentary ‘The Last Waltz’.

Related Article: Martin Scorsese Attached to ‘Gangs of New York’ TV Adaptation

Robertson’s work in movie

In addition to his solo work, Robertson turned a frequent collaborator with Scorsese, engaged on 14 films collectively together with ‘The Irishman’, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, ‘Gangs of New York’, ‘Casino’, ‘The King of Comedy’ and ‘Raging Bull’. His work as composer may even be heard within the director’s newest, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, due in theaters on October twentieth.

In addition to his work with Scorsese, he additionally contributed to the 1988 Bill Murray Christmas comedy ‘Scrooged’, recording a poppy, keyboard-heavy cowl of The Band’s “Christmas Must Be Tonight,” which he wrote initially for the album ‘Islands’.

Martin Scorsese launched the next assertion about his good friend and colleague:

“Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work. I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him. 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. It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting. There’s never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie.”

Here’s the notice on Robertson’s demise launched by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, into which The Band had been inducted in 1994:

“The architect and primary songwriter of The Band, 1994 inductee Robbie Robertson changed the course of popular music in the late 1960s. Though born and raised in Canada, Robertson found poetry in America’s history and mythology, and with a fusion of blues, rock, folk, R&B and country, his compositions embodied the genre that came to be known as Americana. Such songs as ‘The Weight,’ ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,’ and ‘Up On Cripple Creek’ have become cultural monuments, thematically fusing the past with the present and leaving an immeasurable impact. Robertson’s razor-sharp guitar leads were a critical part of The Band’s sound, and after the group’s original lineup ended with the epic concert and film ‘The Last Waltz’, he went on to an acclaimed solo career and extensive work scoring films, including those of director Martin Scorsese.”

Robertson is survived by his spouse, Janet; his kids, Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine; grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel and Seraphina.

Robbie Robertson Movies:

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