Robbie Robertson

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For the fictional editor in the Spider-Man comic, see Joseph "Robbie" Robertson.
Robbie Robertson
Born July 5, 1943
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genre(s) Folk-rock
Country rock
Affiliation(s) The Band
Label(s) Geffen
Years active 1958 - Present
Official site Artist Website at Capitol Records

Jaime Robert Robertson (born July 5, 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a songwriter, guitarist and singer, best known for his membership in The Band.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother, (he took his stepfather's last name after his mother remarried), Robertson had his earliest exposure to music at Six Nations 40, Ontario, where he spent summers with his mother's family. He studied guitar from his youth and was writing songs and performing from his teen years.

By 1958, Robertson was performing in various groups around Toronto. By 1959 he had met singer Ronnie Hawkins, who headed up a band called The Hawks (after relocating to Canada). In 1960 he joined the group, which toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963.

The quintet styled themselves as The Canadian Squires and Levon and the Hawks [1], but (after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers), ultimately called themselves The Band.

[edit] The Band

Bob Dylan hired The Band for his famed, controversial tours of 1965 and 1966, his first wide exposure as an electrified rock and roll performer rather than his earlier acoustic folk sound. Robertson's distinctive guitar sound was an important part of the music; Dylan famously praised him as "the only mathematical guitar genius I’ve ever run into who doesn’t offend my intestinal nervousness with his rearguard sound."

From their first album, Music from Big Pink (1968), The Band was praised as one of rock music's preeminent groups. Rolling Stone magazine praised The Band and gave its music extensive coverage. Robertson sang only a few songs with The Band, but was the group's primary songwriter, and was in the later years of the Band often seen as the de facto bandleader.

In 1976, Robertson decided to break up The Band, reporting that he was exhausted by nearly sixteen years touring with them. In the Martin Scorsese film The Last Waltz (1978) he noted that he had been playing live rock and roll music almost since rock and roll began. Also, as the band's chief song-writer, he was able to live off the song royalties, and no longer needed to tour. The Band reformed in 1983 without Robertson.

[edit] Solo Career

From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo albums that began with a self-titled album. In 1990, he contributed to Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto's album Beauty.

On February 9, 2002, Robertson performed "Stomp Dance (Unity)" as part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

At the 2003 commencment ceremonies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Robertson delivered an address to the graduating class and was awarded an honorary degree by the university. In 2006, he announced plans to write his autobiography.

In 2003, Robertson was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Robertson has three children and has been married to Québécoise Dominique Bourgeois since 1968 - despite a two-and-a-half year separation when he and Last Waltz director Martin Scorsese lived a "bachelor" lifestyle in Scorsese's Mulholland Drive house (during editing on "The Last Waltz.")

[edit] Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese was hired to direct The Last Waltz based on his use of music in Mean Streets. The two lived together during the editing of Waltz and became friends. Scorsese had later admitted that during the editing process, the two of them were under heavy drug use. Scorsese hired Robertson to compose the musical score for his 1980 film Raging Bull. Robertson would later work on Scorsese's movies The King of Comedy, The Color of Money, Casino and The Departed, and act as executive music director for Gangs of New York.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums with The Band

[edit] Solo recordings

Robertson has released four solo albums:

[edit] Film Credits

Robertson is credited in the following films:

  • 1978 The Last Waltz (performer/producer)
  • 1980 Carny (actor - Patch/writer/producer)
  • 1980 Raging Bull (music producer)
  • 1983 The King of Comedy (music producer)
  • 1986 The Color of Money (songs and score)
  • 1994 Jimmy Hollywood (music)
  • 1995 Casino (music consultant)
  • 1995 The Crossing Guard (actor - Roger)
  • 1996 Phenomenon (executive soundtrack producer)
  • 1996 Dakota Exile (narrator)
  • 1999 Forces of Nature (creative music consultant)
  • 1999 Any Given Sunday (songs)
  • 2002 Gangs of New York (executive music producer)
  • 2004 Jenifa (co-producer/executive producer)
  • 2004 Ladder 49 (original song)
  • 2006 The Departed (music producer)

[edit] External links

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