egendary rocker Robbie Robertson - who backed Bob Dylan and made The Band one of many largest acts of the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies - has died aged 80.
The Canadian guitarist, whose songs embrace The Weight and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, died in Los Angeles.
His supervisor stated: “Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death”.
Robertson was one in every of 4 Canadians who joined American drummer Levon Helm within the group that grew to become well-known backing Dylan as he dumped acoustic people and went electrical with a vengence on tracks together with Like A Rolling Stone.
The Band, who repeatedly swapped devices and lead vocals between them, struck out on their very own with albums like Music from Big Pink and The Band within the late Sixties.
They combined nation, people, rock and soul and virtually invented Americana within the course of with songs that harked again to American historical past such because the civil warfare anthem The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek and King Harvest (Has Surely Come).
The Band lastly known as in a day in 1976 with a star-studded live performance with company together with Dylan , Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison and Muddy Waters that was filmed as The Last Waltz by Martin Scorsese.
Despite years of rows over cash and song-writing credit, Robertson appeared again at his Band mates with love and affection.
“Through all the turbulence, I am left with such a deep appreciation for my journey,” he wrote in his autobiography.
“This shining path I’ve traveled being part of the Band - there will never be another like it. Such a gift, such talent, such pain, such madness ... I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
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