ROBBIE ROBERTSON
Name: Robbie Robertson
Born: 5 July 1943 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Robbie Robertson (born Jamie Robert Klegerman, 5 July 1943 at Toronto, Ontario,
Canada) is a songwriter, guitarist and singer, best known for his membership
in The Band. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100
Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
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 has been writing songs and performing since 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,
but (after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers),
ultimately called themselves 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, credited officially as the band's main
songwriter, he was able to live off the song royalties, and no longer needed to
tour. The Band reformed in 1983 without Robertson.
Name: Robbie Robertson
Born: 5 July 1943 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Robbie Robertson (born Jamie Robert Klegerman, 5 July 1943 at Toronto, Ontario,
Canada) is a songwriter, guitarist and singer, best known for his membership
in The Band. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100
Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
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 has been writing songs and performing since 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,
but (after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers),
ultimately called themselves 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, credited officially as the band's main
songwriter, he was able to live off the song royalties, and no longer needed to
tour. The Band reformed in 1983 without Robertson.