Levon Helm – 1940-2012
Written by admin on April 20, 2012 – 6:26 pm -Levon Helm, singer and drummer for The Band, sadly lost his long battle with throat cancer yesterday (April 19) at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He was 71.
Friend and guitarist, Larry Campbell, told Rolling Stone:
| “He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates. All his friends were there, and it seemed like Levon was waiting for them. Ten minutes after they left we sat there and he just faded away. He did it with dignity.” |
Helm was born on 26 May, 1940 in Marvell, Arkansas, and began playing both guitar and drums at an early age, inspired by bluegrass artists such as Bill Monroe and R&B artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, whose drummer, James Curtis, had a big impact on Helm’s drumming style.
By the age of 17, Helm was gigging at local venues around his home town of Helena, Arkansas, and after high school he would join the rockabilly band The Hawks, led by Ronnie Hawkins. In the early 1960s, new members would be recruited (guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson), and with the departure of Hawkins, the band were briefly known as Levon and the Hawks.
In 1965, Bob Dylan asked The Hawks to tour with him as his backing band in a controversial move that would prompt many Dylan fans to accuse him of abandoning his folk roots. Helm’s reaction to this was to take a hiatus from The Band, lasting from November 1965 to October 1967, when he hooked up again with his old bandmates at a house in Woodstock that they had been sharing with Bob Dylan for several months. The music recorded during this period would be bootlegged as the Basement Tapes.
Bob Dylan posted the following tribute on his website on hearing of the death of Helm:
| “He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I’m going to miss him, as I’m sure a whole lot of others will too.” |
Shortly after this, the Hawks were renamed The Band and released their debut album, “Music From the Big Pink,” in 1968, followed by “The Band” the following year. These are regarded as landmark roots rock albums, with The Band standing alongside groups such as Creedence Clearwater Revival in keeping faith with the country and R&B origins of rock, without ever veering into self-indulgent theatrics.
“The Weight” was a standout track from the “Music From the Big Pink” album. Here’s a performance of the song from The Band’s set at Woodstock in 1969.
“The Weight” – The Band
Artistically, a real strength for The Band was that they were a genuine collective of musicians, all bringing something valuable to the table, and with no clearly identified leader. They were, as the name suggests, a band, not a frontman surrounded by anonymous and interchangeable musicians. That sense of shared ownership of the creative process would also be significant in the downfall of the group though, as the relationship between Helm and Robbie Robertson began to sour when Robertson received what Helm perceived as disproportionate credit for his role in the group, including writing credits and ultimately royalties. Tensions heightened in 1976 when Martin Scorsese’s movie about The Band titled “The Last Waltz” tended to position Robertson in that leader role. Despite the tensions, “The Last Waltz” has been hailed as one of the finest concert movies of all time. It would also capture The Band on their last tour with the original line-up.
Here’s two performances from “The Last Waltz,” with Helm taking the lead on vocals:
“Up On Crickle Creek” – The Band
“Ophelia” – The Band
This wasn’t the last hurrah for The Band, as they did reunite in the 1980s without Robertson, but their most successful days were behind them and by 1999 both Danko and Manuel had died. As well as The Band reunion, Helm also toured with Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band in the 1980s.
Helm also found success as an actor, with roles in around a dozen movies, including “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “The Right Stuff” for which he received excellent reviews.
After several low-key years, Helm’s public profile was raised in 2004 when he begun his series of “Midnight Ramble” concerts, which would feature artists such as Elvis Costello, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Dr. John and many more. This was followed by a period of significant critical acclaim for Helm, with Grammy awards for his solo albums “Dirt Farmer” (2007), “Electric Dirt” (2009) and “Ramble at the Ryman” (2011).
After 35 years of bad relations, Robbie Robertson reconciled with Helm at his sick bed last Sunday. He paid the following tribute to his former bandmate on his Facebook page:
| “It hit me really hard because I thought he had beaten throat cancer and had no idea that he was this ill. I spoke with his family and made arrangements to go and see him. On Sunday I went to New York and visited him in the hospital. I sat with Levon for a good while, and thought of the incredible and beautiful times we had together … Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me.” |
Let’s leave the last words to the other surviving member of The Band, Garth Hudson, who paid the following tribute to Helm yesterday:
| “I am terribly sad. Thank you for 50 years of friendship and music. Memories that live on with us. No more sorrows, no more troubles, no more pain. He went peacefully to that beautiful marvellous wonderful place. He was Buddy Rich’s favourite rock drummer … And my friend. Levon, I’m proud of you.” |
Tags: Bob Dylan, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, Levon Helm death, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, The Band
Posted in American Rock, Obituaries |
