The Canadian-born musician died on Wednesday, August 9 following a long illness, according to his manager, Jared Levine.

 

In a statement, Levine said: “Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife, Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine, and Delphine’s partner Kenny.”

 

The guitarist and singer, who was born Jaime Royal Roberston in Toronto on July 5, 1943, co-founded THE BAND in 1967 with drummer Levon Helm, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and keyboard player Garth Hudson. All five musicians had previously been members of THE HAWKS, the backing band of Canadian musician Ronnie Hawkins. 

 

Robertson played guitar on Bob Dylan’s 1966 album Blonde On Blonde, which led to THE HAWKS become Dylan’s backing band, playing with him on his first full electric tour, and taking part in the 1967 sessions in Woodstock, New York that would eventually be released as The Basement Tapes.

 

THE BAND’s debut album, Music From Big Pink – named after the building where The Basement Tapes sessions took place – was released in 1968. Its rootsy, backwards-looking was at odds with the psychedelic movement of the times, and has been cited as an influence by the likes of Elton John, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Wilco. 

 

Robertson wrote most of THE BAND most famous songs, including The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Up On Cripple Creek and The Shape I’m In. 

THE BAND released seven studio albums between 1968 and 1977’s posthumous Islands. 

 

After THE BAND split following 1976’s celebrated farewell concert The Last Waltz, filmed by Martin Scorsese and later released as a landmark concert movie, Robertson launched his solo career with 1987’s Robbie Robertson album. He released five more solo albums, the last of which was 2019’s Sinematic, and forged a prolific artistic relationship with Scorsese, scoring 14 of the director’s movies, including Raging Bull, The King Of Comedy, Gangs Of New York, The Wolf Of Wall Street and the upcoming Killers Of The Flower Moon.