Robbie Robertson
(born Jaime Robert Klegerman
, 5 July 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada [1]) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is 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. [2]
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ROBBIE ROBERTSON TICKETS
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Biography
Early life
Robertson was born to a
Jewish father and a
Mohawk mother and took his stepfather's last name after his mother remarried. He had his earliest exposure to music at
Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, where he spent summers with his mother's family. He studied
guitar when he was a youth and has been writing songs and performing since a teenager.
By 1958, Robertson was performing in various groups around
Toronto, including
Little Caesar and the Consuls, Robbie and the Robots, and Thumper and the Trombones. By 1959 he had met singer
Ronnie Hawkins, who led a band called The Hawks after he had relocated to Canada. In 1960 Hawkins recorded two early Robertson songs, "Hey Boba Lu" and "Someone Like You" on his Mr. Dynamo LP. Robertson then took over lead guitar with The Hawks and toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963. Robertson appears on several of Ronnie Hawkin's albums and compilations.
The quintet styled themselves as The Canadian Squires and Levon and the Hawks,
[3] but (after rejecting such
tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers) ultimately called themselves
The Band.
The Band
Bob Dylan hired The Band for his famed, controversial tour of 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, The Band broke up due to the stresses of sixteen years of touring. In the
Martin Scorsese film
The Last Waltz
(1978) Robertson 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.
After The Band
Early solo career
Robertson produced
Neil Diamond's albums
Beautiful Noise in 1976 and
Love At The Greek (live) in 1977.
Between 1979 and 1980 Robertson co-starred with
Gary Busey and
Jodie Foster in
Carny
. He also co-wrote, produced, and composed source music for the film. Inspired by
Carny
soundtrack composer Alex North, with whom he worked, Robertson became one of the first rock 'n' rollers to seriously engage the medium of film. For Scorsese's
Raging Bull
, Robertson created background music and produced source music.
Between 1982 and 1986 Robertson managed to stay quite busy. For another Scorsese film,
The King of Comedy
(released in 1983), Robertson serves as music producer, assembling tunes by
The Pretenders,
Talking Heads,
Ray Charles,
Rickie Lee Jones and others. He also contributes with his first post-Band solo recording, "Between Trains." Additionally, he produced and played guitar on
Van Morrison's song "
Wonderful Remark". Robertson signed via A&R executive Gary Gersh for his debut solo album on Geffen Records. Robertson recorded with producer (and fellow Canadian)
Daniel Lanois. He also scored Scorsese's
The Color of Money
(1986), working with
Gil Evans, and co-wrote with
Eric Clapton (It's In The Way That You Use It") and Willie Dixon.
[clarification needed]
Robertson was enlisted as creative consultant for
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
(1987),
Taylor Hackford's film saluting
Chuck Berry.
Solo albums
From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo
albums, his first was
self titled followed by
Storyville,
Music for the Native Americans, and
Contact from the Underworld of Redboy. In 1990, he contributed to
Japanese
musician Ryuichi Sakamoto's album
Beauty
. Robertson's song "Broken Arrow", off the
Robbie Robertson
album, was covered by
Rod Stewart on his album
Vagabond Heart
and became a hit single. "Broken Arrow" was also a part of the Grateful Dead's rotation of live songs 1993-95 (sung by bassist
Phil Lesh), and later with
Phil Lesh and Friends. The song "
Somewhere Down the Crazy River", became Robertson's biggest solo hit, charting in the UK and Canada.
In 1994, Robertson returned to his roots, teaming with the Native American group the Red Road Ensemble for
Music for The Native Americans
, a collection of songs composed for a television documentary series.
Also in 1994, Robertson joined
Garth Hudson and
Rick Danko onstage to perform "
The Weight" when The Band was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Levon Helm, who had a falling-out with Robertson after The Band broke up, did not attend.
[4]
Later career
In 1995, in Rome, Robertson headlined an annual Labor Day concert festival with support acts
Andrea Bocelli,
Elvis Costello, and
Radiohead. More than 300,000 fans attended the event.
In 1996, Executive soundtrack producer Robertson heard a demo of
Change The World
and sent it to Clapton as a suggestion for the soundtrack to
Phenomenon
, starring
John Travolta. He then enlisted
Babyface to produce the track.
Change the World
won
1997 Grammy Awards for
Song of the Year and
Record of the Year.
In 1997, Robertson received a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the
National Academy of Songwriters.
From 1997 to 2000, Robertson stayed busy with side projects and documentaries.
In 2000, music industry legends
David Geffen and Mo Ostin convinced Robertson to join
DreamWorks Records as Creative Executive. Robertson, who persuaded Grammy Award winner
Nelly Furtado to sign with the company, is actively involved with film projects and developing new artist talent, including signings of
A.i.,
Boomkat,
Daniel DeBourg,
eastmountainsouth, and singer-songwriter-pianist
Dana Glover.
On 9 February 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 commencement 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.
[5]
In 2006, Robertson recorded with
Jerry Lee Lewis and Samuel Bidleman on "Last man standing" on track "Twilight".
On
July 28,
2007, at
Eric Clapton's
Crossroads Guitar Festival in
Bridgeview, Illinois, Robertson made a rare appearance on stage and played briefly.
According to an article in the
February 9 2008 edition of the
Winnipeg Sun, Robertson is said to be working with
Eric Clapton on an album of new material.
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 heavily used drugs. Scorsese hired Robertson to compose the
musical score for his 1980 film
Raging Bull
, and in the years since the two have been frequent collaborators. 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
.
Personal life
In 1967 Robertson married Dominique Bourgeois, a Québécoise journalist. Together they have three children: daughters Alexandra and Delphine, and son Sebastian.
Discography
Albums with The Band
- 1968 Music from Big Pink
- 1969 The Band
- 1970 Stage Fright
- 1971 Cahoots
- 1972 Rock of Ages
(live concert album)
- 1973 Moondog Matinee
(collection of covers)
- 1974 Before the Flood
(live album with The Band and Bob Dylan)
- 1975 Northern Lights - Southern Cross
- 1975 The Basement Tapes
(with Bob Dylan)
- 1977 Islands
- 1978 The Last Waltz
(live concert album with additional studio material)
Solo recordings
- 1987 Robbie Robertson
(featuring U2, Peter Gabriel and the BoDeans on several tracks)
- 1991 Storyville
- 1994 Music for The Native Americans
- 1998 Contact from the Underworld of Redboy
Film credits
Robertson is credited in the following films:
- 1978 The Last Waltz
(performer/producer)
- 1980 Carny
(actor/writer/producer)
- 1980 Raging Bull
(music producer)
- 1983 The King of Comedy
(music producer)
- 1986 The Color of Money
(songs and score)
- 1991 Until the End of the World
(music)
- 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 Wolves
(narrator)
- 1999 Any Given Sunday
(songs)
- 2001 The Life and Times of Robbie Robertson
- 2002 Gangs of New York
(executive music producer)
- 2002 Skins (film)
(writer/performer)
- 2004 Jenifa
(co-producer/executive producer)
- 2004 Ladder 49
(original song)
- 2006 The Departed
(music producer)
- 2007 Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007
(performer)
- 2008 Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
(actor)
Notes
- Roberston, Robbie
- The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All time
- [1]
- Induction into Rock HoF
- Robbie Robertson
References
- Roberston, Robbie
- The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All time
- [1]
- Induction into Rock HoF
- Robbie Robertson