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Information about Robbie Robertson

For the fictional editor in the Spider-Man comic, see Joseph "Robbie" Robertson.


Robbie Robertson (born Jaime Robert Robertson, 5 July 1943, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a songwriter, guitarist and singer, best known for his membership in The Band.

Biography

Early life

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 was writing songs and performing from 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 [1], 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 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, as the band's chief songwriter, he was able to live off the song royalties, and no longer needed to tour. The Band reformed in 1983 without Robertson.

Solo career

From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo albums that began with a self-titled album. 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

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.

In 2006, Robertson recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis on "Last man standing" on track "Twilight". Robertson has three children and has been married to Québécoise Dominique Bourgeois since 1968 - despite a two-and-a-half year separation when he and Last Waltz director Martin Scorsese lived a "bachelor" lifestyle in Scorsese's Mulholland Drive house (during editing on "The Last Waltz.")

On July 282007, at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in Bridgeview, Ill, Robertson made a rare appearance on stage and played briefly.

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 were under heavy drug use. 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.

Discography

Albums with The Band

Solo recordings

Film Credits

Robertson is credited in the following films:

External links

  •  • [ e] The Band
Robbie Robertson | Rick Danko | Richard Manuel | Garth Hudson | Levon Helm
Ronnie Hawkins | Bob Dylan | John Simon | Allen Toussaint | Jim Weider | Randy Ciarlante | Richard Bell | Stan Szelest
Discography
Studio albums: Music from Big Pink | The Band | Stage Fright | Cahoots | Moondog Matinee | Planet Waves | Before the Flood | The Basement Tapes | Northern Lights - Southern Cross | Islands | Jericho | High On The Hog | Jubilation
Live albums: Rock of Ages | The Last Waltz (album) | Live at Watkins Glen | The Last Waltz (box)
Compilations: The Best of The Band | Anthology | To Kingdom Come | Across The Great Divide | The Best of The Band, Vol. II | Greatest Hits | A Musical History | From Bacon Fat to Judgement Day
Songs: The Weight | This Wheel's on Fire | I Shall Be Released | Up on Cripple Creek | The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down | Don't Do It | Acadian Driftwood
Related articles
The Last Waltz | This Wheel's on Fire | Capitol Records | Americana
Joseph "Robbie" Robertson is a supporting character in Marvel Comics's Spider-Man series. Created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr., he first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #51 (August 1967).
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1940 1941 1942 - 1943 - 1944 1945 1946

Year 1943 (MCMXLIII
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Nickname: T.O., Hogtown, The Big Smoke, T-Dot, Toronto the Good
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Ontario


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains)

Capital Toronto
Largest city Toronto
Official languages English (de facto)
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This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved.
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A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. That is to say, a songwriter is a lyricist, a composer, or both.
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The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four, seven, eight, ten, and twelve string guitars also exist.
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A singer is a musician who uses their voice to produce music. Often the singer is accompanied by musicians and instruments. While many people sing for pleasure, vocal skill is usually a combination of innate talent and professional training.
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For other uses, see Band.
The Band was a Canadian-American rock group, active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. It mainly consisted of Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano); Richard Manuel (piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone, organ); Garth Hudson
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Historical Jewish languages
Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, others
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Hebrew and Aramaic
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The vernacular language of the home nation in the Diaspora, significantly including English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and
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Mohawk (Kanienkeh, Kanienkehaka or Kanien’Kahake, meaning "People of the Flint") are an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario.
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Six Nations of the Grand River is the name applied to two contiguous Indian reserves southeast of Brantford, Ontario, Canada – Six Nations reserve no. 40 and Glebe Farm reserve no. 40B.
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The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four, seven, eight, ten, and twelve string guitars also exist.
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A song is a relatively short musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed with the human voice and generally feature words (lyrics), commonly accompanied by other musical instruments (exceptions would be a cappella and scat songs).
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City of Toronto

Flag
Coat of arms
Nickname: T.O., Hogtown, The Big Smoke, T-Dot, Toronto the Good
Motto: Diversity Our Strength
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Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins (born 10 January 1935, Huntsville, Arkansas, United States) is a pioneering rock and roll musician and cousin to fellow rockabilly pioneer Dale Hawkins.
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Tongue-in-cheek is a term that refers to a style of humour in which things are said only half seriously, or in a subtly mocking way.

Origin of the term

This phrase clearly alludes to the facial expression created by putting one's tongue in one's cheek.
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For other uses, see Band.
The Band was a Canadian-American rock group, active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. It mainly consisted of Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano); Richard Manuel (piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone, organ); Garth Hudson
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-1965-  1966 . 1967 . 1968  1969 . 1970 . 1971 . 1972 . 1973 . 1974 .
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-1966-  1967 . 1968 . 1969  1970 . 1971 . 1972 . 1973 . 1974 . 1975 .
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Rock 'n' Roll (short for Rock and Roll), is a genre of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the world. It later spawned the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock music'.
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Acoustic music refers to music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electronic means. Given that electronic instruments are a very recent invention in the history of music, almost all musical instruments are
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Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:
  • Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given

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Music from Big Pink
(1968) The Band
(1969)

Music from Big Pink is the 1968 debut album by folk-rock band The Band. It features one of their best known songs, "The Weight.
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-1968-  1969 . 1970 . 1971  1972 . 1973 . 1974 . 1975 . 1976 . 1977 .
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Rock music is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or synthesizers.
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Type Music magazine
Format

Owner Jann Wenner
Publisher Wenner Publishing
Editor Jann Wenner
Will Dana
Founded 1967
Language English
Headquarters New York City, NY
Circulation 1.2 to 1.
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De facto is a Latin expression that means "in fact" or "in practice" but not spelled out by law. It is commonly used in contrast to de jure (which means "by law") when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique (such as standards), that are found in the
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