Robbie Robertson has died

Robbie Robertson, who formed The Band, along with Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm, has died. Robertson’s management company have confirmed the musician’s death in a statement. “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 statement read. “He is also survived by his grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel and Seraphina".

The Band, originally joining Ronnie Hawkins as his backing band The Hawks in the late 50s, were then hired by Bob Dylan for his historic electric tours of 1965 and 1966, which are the subject of Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary No Direction Home. Following those tours, they relocated to upstate New York where they recorded The Basement Tapes with Dylan and their debut album Music From Big Pink, a record which changed the direction of the music of that era, followed by their equally brilliant follow-up, the eponymous record The Band.

Another five albums followed before Robertson convinced The Band to perform a farewell concert The Last Waltz featuring Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, Ron Wood and many more – which, when filmed by Scorsese, became perhaps the most iconic rockumentary of all-time and marked the end of Robertson's tenure with The Band.

He went on to record parts of his 1986 debut album Robbie Robertson with U2 in their home studio in Rathfarnham, Dublin, with some of the lyrics ideas based on his turbulent flight which landed amid Hurricane Charley. Robertson also continued a lifelong collaboration with Scorsese, notably scoring Raging Bull and The King of Comedy - and most recently, the upcoming feature Killers of the Flower Moon.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River to support a new Woodland Cultural Center.”