Robbie Robertson Pics

Robbie

Robertson

73

Male

05 July 1943

Slim

Brown - Dark

Toronto, Canada

Cancer

The Band lead guitarist

Canadian

Pop/Rock

New Age, Ethnic Fusion, Album Rock, Roots Rock

Nocturnal, Literate, Earthy, Plaintive, Cerebral, Confident, Reflective, Ambitious

Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals

Robbie Robertson, (born Jaime Royal Robertson, July 5, 1943) OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. The Band has been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. As a songwriter Robertson is responsible for such classics as "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Up On Cripple Creek", "Broken Arrow" and "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Robbie Robertson (born Jaime Robert Klegerman, 5 July 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) 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. Born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother, (he took his stepfather’s last name after his mother remarried), Robertson’s earliest exposure to music was 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. In 1960, he met singer Ronnie Hawkins, who headed up a band called The Hawks (after relocating to Canada), and joined the group, which toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963. The quintet styled themselves as The Canadian Esquires and Levon and the Hawks,(after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers), before ultimately calling 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 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. 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.

www.myspace.com/robbierobertson1

Jaime Robert Klegerman

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Soundtrack, Music Department, Actor/Actress

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