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Robbie Robertson

Jaime Robert Klegerman popularly known as Robbie Robertson is a guitarist, singer and songwriter born on 5th July, 1943 in Toronto, Canada. Robbie is best remembered for his wonderful performances as a member of “The Band”. As per Rolling Stone magazine he ranked Seventy eight in the list of best hundred Guitarists to be ever born on this planet

Robbie Robertson’s father was a Jew and his mother a Mohawk. Robbie adopted his stepfather's surname after his mother married him. His first experience of music was at Six Nations of the Grand River 1ST Nation, where he went to live during the summers as it was the place of his mother's family folks. Robbie Robertson learned to play guitar at a young age and had written songs and performed in many live shows as a teenager.

Robertson had begun performing with several groups around Toronto by 1958, like “Robbie and Robots”, “Little Caeser and the Consuls” and “Thumper and the Trumbones”. As an Artist Robbie got acquainted to singer Ronnie Hawkins in1959, who was leading a band named “The Hawks” after having shifted to Canada. In 1960 two Robertson songs were recorded by Hawkins, “Someone Like You” and “Hey Boba Lu” on his LP Mr. Dynamo. The relationship eventually developed and Robertson got the opportunity to be the lead guitarist of “The Hawks” and went on many tours with the group. After an association of three years Robbie Robertson decided to part away from Hawkins in 1963. Many compilations and albums of Ronnie Hawkins have Robertson appearing on them.

In 1964 Robbie Robertson became part of the group consisting of Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and American Levon Helm, the quintet thought of many names including funny ones like “The Honkies” but ultimately named them as “The Band”. The Band was lauded from their first album, Music from the Big Pink in1968, and was appreciated as rock music's eminent group. The Band’s music was extensively covered and praised by Rolling Stone magazine. Robertson also sang a few songs for The Band, but was principally regarded as the chief songwriter. Robbie Robertson was often looked at as the de facto leader of the band.

Robbie Robertson left the band in 1976 as he had stressed out after going on tours for 16 years. He was officially acknowledged as the The Band’s songwriter this ensured that Robbie earns enough royalties to live without stressing himself. Robertson made the albums “Beautiful Noise” for Neil Diamond in 1976 and “Love At Greek” in 1977. Robertson composed background music for Scorsese's “Raging Bull” and “King Of Comedy” released in 1978. From 1997 till 2000, Robertson was busy with documentaries and side projects. Robertson was bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 from the Academy of Songwriters.Walk of Fame in Canada listed Robbie Robertson‘s name in 2003.

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3
Album Review

The Band: Stage Fright 50th Anniversary Edition 2CD

Read "Stage Fright 50th Anniversary Edition 2CD" reviewed by Doug Collette


In order to more fully appreciate the 50th anniversary edition of the Band's third studio album, Stage Fright (Capitol, 1970), it is best to resist the temptation to go off on tangents regarding the revisionism visited upon the release. The supervision administered by the group's guitarist/songwriter Robbie Robertson may be as questionable as that visited upon other such packages in recent years, but rampant skepticism and suspicion about his motives ultimately precludes deeper enjoyment of the work both past and ...

3
Album Review

Allman Brothers Band: Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection

Read "Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection" reviewed by Doug Collette


The gold-embossed lettering on the front and back cover of the roughly 5" by 7" slipcase enclosing the Allman Brothers Band's box set Trouble No More belies its otherwise generic art work. Yet the graphic design isn't all that gives the lie to an otherwise positive first impression gleaned from 50th Anniversary Collection. A glance at the sixty-one tune track-listing plus a cursory perusal of Kirk West's stellar photos inside the eighty-eight page booklet are also somewhat deceiving: while this ...

5
Album Review

Robbie Robertson: Sinematic

Read "Sinematic" reviewed by Doug Collette


Robbie Robertson's ongoing fascination with the dark(er) side of human nature, combined with his longstanding fascination with film, begs the question of why it took so long for him to fuse the two interests in a solo album. There are more than a few memorable moments scattered throughout approximately sixty minutes of music on Sinematic and to posit those in the vernacular of film criticism, the record might well receive high marks for special effects, kudos for some bit players ...

1
Book Review

Robbie Robertson: Testimony and Michael Nesmith: Infinite Tuesday: an Autobiographical Riff

Read "Robbie Robertson: Testimony and Michael Nesmith: Infinite Tuesday: an Autobiographical Riff" reviewed by Doug Collette


Robbie Robertson's Testimony and Michael Nesmith's Infinite Tuesday are both illuminating books, but only in decidedly constricted fashion. The insight each man offers into their respective timelines, as part of and apart from their famous groups, passes through filters of which neither author are wholly cognizant. The lead guitarist and chief songwriter for the Band sounds almost as guileless as his counterpart from the Monkees, but both men (and/or their respective editors) evince artful means in devising a particular slant ...

107
Album Review

Robbie Robertson: How To Become Clairvoyant

Read "How To Become Clairvoyant" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Expat Canadian guitarist/vocalist Robbie Robertson has never topped his first two major-label recordings with The Band, Music From Big Pink (Capitol, 1968), that included the timeless single, “The Weight," or its classic follow-up, The Band (Capitol, 1969). But, then again, neither has anyone else.Since the original Band broke up--its final days together in 1976 documented in director Martin Scorsese's 1978 film and concert recording of the same name, The Last Waltz (Warner Bros., 1978)--Robertson has largely busied himself ...

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Video / DVD

Robbie Robertson. Ringo Starr Play ‘The Weight’ With Musicians On Five Continents [VIDEO]

Robbie Robertson. Ringo Starr Play ‘The Weight’ With Musicians On Five Continents [VIDEO]

Source: HypeBot

Robbie Robertson, the co-founder of The Band and Ringo Starr have joined forces with Playing For Change, a grassroots multimedia music project dedicated to “inspiring and connecting the world through music,” for an epic, global rendition of The Bands' song “The Weight.” Born in 2002 as a shared vision between co-founders, Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke, to hit the streets of America with a mobile recording studio and cameras in search of “inspiration and the heartbeat of the people,” the ...

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Recording

Robbie Robertson - How to Become Clairvoyant (2011)

Robbie Robertson - How to Become Clairvoyant (2011)

Source: Something Else!

How to Become Clairvoyant is, thus far, Robbie Robertson's most blatantly personal solo release, taking on his split with the Band, nostalgia for his generation's spent idealism, and the realization of a dark aftermath for the era's hedonistic excesses. That might sound like the kind of triumphal return many had hoped for over the 13 years since Robertson's last album, 1998's Contact from the Underworld of Redboy. But then he issued a pair of uneven advance singles. While “He Don't ...

115

Performance / Tour

Robbie Robertson Recruits Dawes as Backing Band for Live Dates

Robbie Robertson Recruits Dawes as Backing Band for Live Dates

Source: JamBase

LIVE DATES TO INCLUDE FESTIVAL AND TELEVISION APPEARANCES; HOW TO BECOME CLAIRVOYANT OUT APRIL 5 According to Rolling Stone, Robbie Robertson is planning several live shows with backing from Dawes. The live performances are said to include television and selected festival dates in support of Robertson's upcoming solo album How To Become Clairvoyant, out April 5. Says Robertson, “[My manager] came up with the idea of maybe working with them if I was going to do some TV things. We ...

110

Recording

One Track Mind: Robbie Robertson, "He Don't Live Here No More" (2011)

One Track Mind: Robbie Robertson, "He Don't Live Here No More" (2011)

Source: Something Else!

Photo from RobbieRobertson.comBy Nick DeRiso “He Don't Live Here No More," the edgy lead single from Robbie Robertson's upcoming album How To Become Clairvoyant, is a rollicking rebuke of the dark demons that stole too many friends. “I was higher than a lost kite—too far gone," Robertson wails, channelling lost souls like Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, former mates in the Band. “Outside they was beating on the door. ... I said, he don't live here no more." Danko, bassist ...

170

Recording

Listen up Preview: Robbie Robertson, "When the Night Was Young" (2011)

Listen up Preview: Robbie Robertson, "When the Night Was Young" (2011)

Source: Something Else!

By Nick DeRiso We find Robbie Robertson, former guitarist with Bob Dylan and the Band, again hurtling through the Mississippi Delta, racing past old churches with scolding signs out front, hanging out with grifters and cardsharps, searching for something deeper, something real. This time, it's different, though. He's older now, with friends and youthful dreams long gone. So many hopes lay in pieces all around. And, in sorting through them, Robertson sees things now, new things, that I don't. “What ...

98

Recording

Robbie Robertson Readies First Album in over a Decade

Robbie Robertson Readies First Album in over a Decade

Source: JamBase

HOW TO BECOME CLAIRVOYANT OUT APRIL. 5, 2011; FEATURES ERIC CLAPTON, ROBERT RANDOLPH, TOM MORELLO, STEVE WINWOOD, TRENT REZNOR On April 5, 2011, 429 Records will release How To Become Clairvoyant, Robbie Robertson's fifth solo album and his first record in more than 10 years. Guitar virtuosos Eric Clapton (who co-wrote three tracks with Robertson), Tom Morello and Robert Randolph guest on the album, which Robertson co- produced with Marius de Vries. How To Become Clairvoyant also features Steve Winwood ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Stage Fright 50th...

Universal Music Group
2021

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Trouble No More: 50th...

Universal Music Group
2020

buy

Sinematic

Universal Music Group
2019

buy

How To Become...

Macrobiotic Records
2011

buy

Carny

Chrysalis
1980

buy

Videos

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