Robbie Robertson, The Band’s guitarist and primary songwriter who penned “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and many other beloved classics, has died at age 80.
Robertson’s management said, “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,” his longtime manager Jared Levine said in a statement. “In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River to support the building of their new cultural centre.”
Robertson was a Canadian musician. He is recognized for his work as lead guitarist for Bob Dylan in the mid-late 1960s and early-mid 1970s; as guitarist and songwriter with the Band from their inception until 1978, and for his career as a solo recording artist.
Robertson's work with the Band was instrumental in creating the Americana music genre. Robertson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a member of the Band, and was inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame, both with the Band and on his own. He is ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
As a songwriter, Robertson is credited for writing "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and "Up on Cripple Creek" with the Band, and had solo hits with "Broken Arrow" and "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and many others. He was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters.
As a film soundtrack producer and composer, Robertson is known for his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, which began with the rockumentary film The Last Waltz (1978), and continued through a number of dramatic films, including Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Casino (1995), The Departed (2006), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Irishman (2019), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). He worked on many other soundtracks for film and television.
Comments