Levon Helm Pics

Levon

Helm

25 May 1940

Slim

Grey

Marvell, Arkansas

Gemini

White

Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Band) in 1994

Male

American

Pop/Rock

Rock & Roll, Country-Rock, Roots Rock, Psychedelic, Folk-Rock

Earnest, Earthy, Organic, Gritty

Drums, Vocals, Mandolin

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (born May 26, 1940), is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band. Helm is known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative drumming style highlighted on many of The Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", "Ophelia" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". His 2007 comeback album Dirt Farmer earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #91 in the list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2010, Electric Dirt, his 2009 follow-up to Dirt Farmer, won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, an inaugural category in 2010.

Levon Helm was in the right place at the right time. He saw the birth of rock and roll and though he`s too much of a gentleman to say it, his role in helping to keep that rebellious child healthy is more than just instrumental. On May 26, 1940, Mark Lavon Helm was the second of four children born to Nell and Diamond Helm in Elaine, Arkansas. Diamond was a cotton farmer who entertained occasionally as a musician. The Helm`s loved music and often sang together. They listened to The Grand Ole Opry and Sonny Boy Williamson and His King Biscuit Entertainers regularly on the radio. A favorite family pastime was attending traveling music shows in the area. According to his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel`s On Fire, Levon recalls seeing his first live show, Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, at six years old. His description: "This really tattooed my brain. I`ve never forgotten it." Hearing performers like Monroe and Williamson on the radio was one thing, seeing them live made a huge impression. Levon`s father bought him his first guitar at age nine. At ten and eleven, whenever he wasn`t in school or at work on the farm, the boy could be found at KFFA`s broadcasting studio in Helena, Arkansas, watching Sonny Boy Williamson do his radio show, King Biscuit Time. Helm made his younger sister Linda a string bass out of a washtub when he was twelve years old. She would play the bass while her brother slapped his thighs and played harmonica and guitar. They would sing songs learned at home and popular hits of the day, and billed themselves as "Lavon and Linda." Because of their fresh faced good looks, obvious musical talent and Levon`s natural ability to win an audience with sheer personality and infectious rhythms, the pair consistently won talent contests along the Arkansas 4-H Club circuit. In 1954, Levon was fourteen years old when he saw Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins do a show at Helena. Also performing was a young Elvis Presley with Scotty Moore on guitar, and Bill Black on stand-up bass. They did not have a drummer. The music was early jazz-fueled rockabilly, and the audience went wild. In `55 he saw Elvis once more, before Presley`s star exploded. This time Presley had D.J. Fontana with him on drums and Bill Black was playing electric bass. Helm couldn`t get over the difference and thought it was the best band he`d seen. The added instruments gave the music solidity and depth. People jumped out of their seats dancing to the thunderous, heart-pumping, rhythms. The melting pot that was the Mississippi Delta had boiled over and evolved. It`s magnificently rich blues was uniting with all the powerful, new, spicy- hot sounds and textures that became rock and roll. Natural progression led Levon to form his own rock band as a high school junior, called "The Jungle Bush Beaters." While Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were making teens everywhere crazed, Levon would practice, play, watch and learn. After seeing Jerry Lee`s drummer Jimmy Van Eaton, he seriously began thinking of playing the drums himself. Around this same time, the seventeen year old musician was invited by Conway Twitty to share the stage with Twitty and his Rock Housers. He had met Twitty when "Lavon and Linda" opened for him at a previous show. Helm was a personable, polite teen who took his music seriously, so Twitty allowed him to sit in whenever the opportunity arose. Ronnie Hawkins came into Levon Helm`s life in 1957. A charismatic entertainer and front-man, Hawkins was gathering musicians to tour Canada where the shows and money were steady. Ronnie had a sharp eye for talent. He needed a drummer and Levon fit the bill. Fulfilling a promise to Nell and Diamond to finish high school, Levon joined Ronnie and his "Hawks" on the road. The young Arkansas farm boy, once a tractor driving champion, found himself driving Hawkins` Cadillac to gigs, happily aware that all the unknown adventures of rock and roll would be his destiny. In `59 Ronnie got "The Hawks" signed to Roulette Records. They had two hits, "Forty Days" and "Mary Lou," sold 750,000 copies and appeared on Dick Clark`s American Bandstand. Hawkins and Helm recruited four more talented Canadian musicians in the early sixties, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson. Under Ronnie`s tutelage they would often perform until midnight and rehearse until four in the morning. Other bands began emulating their style, now they were the ones to watch and learn from. Eventually, the students surpassed their teacher. Weary of Ronnie`s strict regulations, and eager to expand their own musical interests, the five decided to break from Hawkins. They called themselves "Levon and the Hawks." About 1965, Bob Dylan decided to change his sound. He was ready to "go electric" and wanted "The Hawks" to help him fire it up. The boys signed on to tour with Dylan but unfortunately

www.imdb.com/name/nm0375629/bio

Mark Lavon Helm

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Actor/Actress, Soundtrack, Music Department

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