Robbie Robertson, a movie author and the Band co-founder who penned the 1970s classics “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” has passedaway at the age of80 File Photo by Bryan Smith/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 9 (UPI) — Robbie Robertson, a movie author and the Band’s co-founder who penned the 1970s classics “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” has passedaway at the age of 80.
Robertson’s management business stated the guitarplayer, vocalist and songwriter passedaway Wednesday in Los Angeles after a long healthproblem.
“Robbie was surrounded by his household at the time of his death, consistingof his otherhalf, Janet, his ex-wife Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his kids Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine and Delphine’s partner Kenny,” the declaration read. “Robertson justrecently finished his fourteenth movie music task with regular partner Martin Scorsese, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ In lieu of flowers, the household has asked that contributions be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River to assistance a brand-new Woodland Cultural .”
Robertson was born in Toronto, Ontario, and was 16-years-old when he signedupwith the Hawks as a guitarplayer. The band went on to play with Bob Dylan throughout his “Going Electric” trips in 1965 and1966
Two years lateron, the Hawks signed with Capitol Records and were relabelled the Band. Their veryfirst 2 albums, Music from Big Pink and The Band, drew greatly on American folk, “blues and nation music, Southern things,” according to Robertson.
The Band increased to popularity throughout the early 1970s with a sold-out trip, a No. 1 album Planet Waves and an look at Woodstock. The group broke up in 1976 due to compound abuse issues and played their last show — “The Last Waltz” — on Thanksgiving night of that year. Director Martin Scorsese launched a documentary about the show in 1978.
During the 1990s, the Band reunited and taped numerous albums without Robertson. Robertson was inducted with his band mates into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in1994
Robertson, who was likewise a five-time Grammy nomin