The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee died on Wednesday after a long illness.
Robbie Robertson, best known as the guitarist for The Band and a composer for many of director Martin Scorsese's films, died Wednesday in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 80.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1943, Robertson started playing guitar at age 10, and when he was 16, joined The Band drummer Levon Helm in The Hawks, the backing band for rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins.
The group -- which would include bandmates Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson -- joined Bob Dylan on his "Going Electric" tours in 1965 and 1966, before changing their name to The Band and releasing their debut album, Music From Big Pink, in 1968. They would go on to release 12 albums as a group, along with three with Dylan, with well-known hits such as "The Weight," "The Shape I'm In," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Rockin' Chair."
Robertson left the band in 1983 and later went on to a solo career, releasing five albums and one film soundtrack as a solo artist. The Band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and honored with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award in 2008. Robertson also won several Juno Awards, was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Manuel died in 1986, Danko in 1999, and Helm in 2012, leaving Hudson as the only surviving member of The Band's original lineup.
Robertson is also known for his collaborations with Scorsese, which began when the filmmaker made a documentary about The Band's final performance with the original five members, which was held on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, 1976, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Scorsese released the film, titled The Last Waltz, to great acclaim and it's still hailed as one of the greatest music documentaries of all time.
Robertson would go on to compose music for a number of Scorsese's films, including Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Casino, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman, as well as his upcoming film, Killers of the Flower Moon.
Scorsese paid tribute to Robertson in a statement to ET, saying, "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," he continued. "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," Scorsese's statement concluded.
In a statement, Robertson’s manager of 34 years, Jared Levine, told ET, "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. Contact: tkelley@woodlandculturalcentre.ca."
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