Robbie Robertson

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Biography

Robbie Robertson, (born Jaime Royal Robertson , July 5, 1943) Order of Canada|OC ; is a Canadians|Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band . He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. The Band has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-band/ and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame . http://www.carasonline.ca/HOF_past.php 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 " Robbie Robertson (album)#"Somewhere Down the Crazy River"|Somewhere Down the Crazy River ", and has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame .

Early life

Robertson was born in Toronto, Ontario , Canada to a Jewish father and a Mohawk nation|Mohawk mother. He had his earliest exposure to music at Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation , where he spent summers with his mother's family.

By 1958, Robertson was performing in various groups around Toronto , including Little Caesar and the Consuls , Robbie and the Robots, and Thumper and the Trambones. By 1959 he had met singer Ronnie Hawkins , who led a band called The Hawks. In 1960 Hawkins recorded two early Robertson songs, "Hey Boba Lu" and "Someone Like You" on his Mr. Dynamo LP. Robertson then took over lead guitar with The Hawks and toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963.

After Robertson left Ronnie Hawkins with Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson, the quintet styled themselves Levon and the Hawks, but, after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers, as well as the Canadian Squires—a name the record label called them and that they immediately hated—they ultimately called themselves The Band .

The Band

Bob Dylan hired The Hawks for his famed, controversial tour of 1966, his first wide exposure as an electrified rock and roll performer rather than his earlier Acoustic music|acoustic folk music|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." Robertson appears as one of the guitarists on Dylan's 1966 album Blonde on Blonde .

From their first albums, Music from Big Pink (1968), and The Band (1969), 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, The Band began to break up due to the stresses of sixteen years of touring. In the Martin Scorsese film The Last Waltz (1978) The Band played their final concert with the help of their friends and influences, Ronnie Hawkins , Muddy Waters , Dr. John , Bob Dylan , Eric Clapton , Van Morrison , Neil Diamond , Joni Mitchell , Neil Young , Emmylou Harris , Ron Wood , and Ringo Starr .

After The Band

Early solo career

Robertson produced Neil Diamond 's albums Beautiful Noise (album)|Beautiful Noise in 1976 and Love at the Greek (live) in 1977.

Between 1979 and 1980 Robertson co-starred with Gary Busey and Jodie Foster in Carny (film)| Carny . He also co-wrote, produced, and composed source music for the film. For Scorsese's Raging Bull , Robertson created background music and produced source music.

For another Scorsese film, The King of Comedy (1983 film)|The King of Comedy (released in 1983), Robertson served as music producer and also contributed with his first post-Band solo recording, "Between Trains." Additionally, he produced and played guitar on Van Morrison 's song " Wonderful Remark ". Robertson signed via A& R executive Gary Gersh for his debut solo album on Geffen Records. Robertson recorded with producer (and fellow Canadian) Daniel Lanois . He also scored Scorsese's The Color of Money (1986), working with Gil Evans and Willie Dixon and co-wrote "It's In the Way That You Use It" with Eric Clapton .

Robertson was enlisted as creative consultant for '' Hail& #33; Hail& #33; Rock 'n' Roll '' (1987), Taylor Hackford 's film saluting Chuck Berry . Wherein he interviewed Chuck Berry and played guitar while Chuck recited some poetry.

Solo albums

From 1987 onwards, Robertson released a series of four solo albums, his first was Robbie Robertson (album)|self titled followed by Storyville (album)|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 " Robbie Robertson (album)#.22Somewhere Down the Crazy River.22|Somewhere Down the Crazy River ", became Robertson's biggest solo hit.

In 1994, Robertson returned to his roots, forming a Native American group the Red Road Ensemble for Music for The Native Americans , a collection of songs that accompanied a television documentary series.

Also in 1994, Robertson joined Garth Hudson , Rick Danko and inductor Eric Clapton onstage to perform " The Weight " when The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame .

How To Become Clairvoyant was released on April, 5, 2011 and is the fifth solo release from Robbie Robertson. It features Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Trent Reznor, Tom Morello, Robert Randolph, Rocco Deluca, Angela McCluskey, and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. Pino Palladino, and Ian Thomas are the rhythm section. Robbie performed "He Don't Live Here No More" on CBS 's Late Show with David Letterman and American Broadcasting Company|ABC 's The View (U.S. TV series)|The View in support of the album, with the band, Dawes , and solo artist, Jonathan Wilson (musician)|Jonathan Wilson . The album was also released in a de luxe edition containing five bonus tracks (four demos and the exclusive track Houdini, named after the magician).

Later career

In 1995, in Rome, Robertson headlined an annual Labour Day concert festival with support acts Andrea Bocelli , Elvis Costello , and Radiohead . In 1996, Executive soundtrack producer Robertson heard a demo of Change The World and sent it to Clapton as a suggestion for the soundtrack to Phenomenon (film)|Phenomenon , starring John Travolta . Babyface (musician)|Babyface produced the track. Change the World won Grammy Awards of 1997|1997 Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year and Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year .

In 1997, Robertson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters .

In 2000, David Geffen and Mo Ostin convinced Robertson to join DreamWorks Records as creative executive. Robertson, who persuaded Nelly Furtado to sign with the company, is actively involved with film projects and developing new artist talent, including signings of A.i. , Boomkat , eastmountainsouth , and Dana Glover (singer)|Dana Glover .

On February 9, 2002, Robertson performed "Stomp Dance (Unity)" as part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah . Robertson serves as music supervisor on the Martin Scorsese film Gangs Of New York .

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 2003, Robertson was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame .

In 2004, Robertson contributed the song Shine Your Light to the Ladder 49 soundtrack.

In 2005, Robertson is the executive producer on the definitive box set for The Band entitled A Musical History .

In 2006, Robertson recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis and Samuel Bidleman on Last Man Standing on the track "Twilight". That same year, he received the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement . He also produced the soundtrack for the Scorsese film, The Departed .

On July 28, 2007, at Eric Clapton 's Crossroads Guitar Festival in Bridgeview, Illinois , Robertson made a rare live appearance. Also in 2007, Robertson accepted an invitation to participate in '' Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino '' ( Vanguard Records|Vanguard ). With the group Galactic , Robertson contributed his version of Domino's " Goin' To The River ".

In 2008, Robertson and The Band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2010, Robertson provides music supervision for yet another Scorsese film, Shutter Island (film)|Shutter Island .

On May 27, 2011, Robertson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston .

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese was hired to direct The Last Waltz based on his use of music in Mean Streets . The two were housemates during the editing of The Last Waltz and became friends. Robertson went on 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 (1983 film)|The King of Comedy , The Color of Money , Casino (movie)|Casino , The Departed , Gangs of New York , and provided music supervision for Shutter Island (film)|Shutter Island .

Personal life

In 1967 Robertson married Dominique Bourgeois, a Québécoise journalist. Together they have three children: daughters Alexandra and Delphine, and son Sebastian.

Discography

Albums with The Band

1968 Music from Big Pink

1969 The Band (album)|The Band

1970 Stage Fright (album)|Stage Fright

1971 Cahoots (album)|Cahoots

1972 Rock of Ages (album)|Rock of Ages

1973 Moondog Matinee

1975 Northern Lights - Southern Cross

1977 Islands (The Band album)|Islands

1978 The Last Waltz (1978 album)|The Last Waltz

1995 Live at Watkins Glen

Albums with Bob Dylan and The Band

1974 Before the Flood

1974 Planet Waves

1975 The Basement Tapes

1998 The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert

Solo recordings

1987 Robbie Robertson (album)|Robbie Robertson

1991 Storyville (album)|Storyville

1994 Music for The Native Americans

1998 Contact from the Underworld of Redboy

2011 How to Become Clairvoyant (US #13, UK #56)

Film credits

Robertson is credited in the following films:

1978 The Last Waltz (performer/producer)

1980 Carny (1980 film)|Carny (actor/writer/producer/composer)

1980 Raging Bull (music producer)

1983 The King of Comedy (1983 film)|The King of Comedy (music producer)

1986 The Color of Money (songs and score)

1994 Jimmy Hollywood (songs and score)

1995 Casino (film)|Casino (music consultant)

1995 The Crossing Guard (actor – Roger)

1996 Phenomenon (film)|Phenomenon (executive soundtrack producer/composer)

1996 Dakota Exile (narrator)

1999 Forces of Nature (creative music consultant)

1999 Wolves (1999 film)|Wolves (narrator)

1999 Any Given Sunday (songs and score)

2001 The Life and Times of Robbie Robertson

2002 Gangs of New York (executive music producer)

2002 Skins (film) (writer)

2004 Jenifa (executive producer)

2004 Ladder 49 (original song Shine Your Light )

2006 The Departed (music producer)

2007 Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 (performer)

2008 Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood (actor)

2009 Shutter Island (film)|Shutter Island (music supervisor)

Copyright Citations

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1. Bob Dylan 2. Bruce Springsteen 3. Creedence Clearwater Revival 4. Peter Gabriel 5. Counting Crows 6. Cream 7. John Fogerty 8. Mark Knopfler 9. Neil Diamond 10. The Band 11. The Call 12. Bruce Hornsby 13. Gordon Lightfoot 14. Bono 15. CCR

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