ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) —
Levon Helm, The Band's commanding drummer and singer, whose solid beat and Arkansas twang helped define classics from the tragic "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" to the playful "Up on Cripple Creek," died Thursday. He was 71.
Helm, who was found to have throat cancer in 1998, died peacefully Thursday afternoon (April 19), according to his website. On Tuesday, a message on the site said he was in the final stages of cancer.
Helm and his band mates -- Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel -- were musical virtuosos who returned to the roots of American music in the late 1960s as other rockers veered into psychedelia, heavy metal and jams. The group's 1968 debut, "Music From the Big Pink," and its follow-up, "The Band," remain landmark albums of the era, and songs such as "The Weight," ''Dixie Down" and "Cripple Creek" have become rock standards. Read More...
Here is an 2007 Levon Helm interview with Terry Gross on WHYY's Fresh Air.
No comments:
Post a Comment