Bob Dylan has released a statement on the death of his old pal Robbie Robertson, who died of prostate cancer on Wednesday at the age of 80.
Robertson, the frontman of the classic rock group The Band, had a professional and personal connection with Dylan that stretched back more than half a century.
When 82-year-old Dylan controversially switched to electro in the mid-1960s, it was the band that supported him on stage.
At one point, Robertson even had to save Dylan’s life — the folk legend was so dead to the world after abusing amphetamines on tour that he nearly drowned in the bathtub, only for Robertson to fish him out just in time.
Two days after Robertson’s death, Dylan told Billboard, “This is shocking news.” Robbie was a lifelong friend. “His death leaves a vacancy in the world.”
Bereaved: Bob Dylan, pictured in 2018, has released a statement on the death of his old pal Robbie Robertson, who succumbed to prostate cancer on Wednesday aged 80
Just as they were: Dylan (left) and Robertson (pictured) appear onstage at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in Martin Scorsese’s groundbreaking documentary The Last Waltz
Jared Levine, Robertson’s manager, 34, released a statement in Variety, revealing that Robertson’s death was the end of a long illness. Sources told TMZ that the musician has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Some of the most popular songs he wrote for the band include “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, “Up On Cripple Creek” and “The Weight”.
Robertson also enjoyed a long professional relationship with Martin Scorsese, first with The Band and then as solo composer of a number of the filmmaker’s classics.
“Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife Janet, his ex-wife Dominique, their partner Nicholas and their children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine and Delphine’s partner Kenny,” his manager’s statement said.
“He also leaves behind his grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel and Seraphina,” Levine added. “Robertson recently completed his fourteenth film music project with frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese: Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Starring a star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, Killers Of The Flower Moon follows a plan by white Americans to confiscate oil discovered by the Osage Indians on their land.
“In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to the Six Nations of the Grand River to help build their new cultural center,” Levine said.
Robertson was born in Toronto in 1943 to a mother who was raised in Canada’s Six Nations Reserve and was of Mohawk and Cayuga descent.
Duo: When Dylan controversially switched to electro in the 1960s, it was the band that supported him on stage; Dylan and Robertson are pictured in 1966
Place to be: They continued to perform with Bob Dylan, including a 1968 concert at Carnegie Hall (pictured) and a 1974 gig at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Florida
Quintet: Robertson (second left) is pictured in a portrait with (from left) Rick Danko, Levon Holm, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson of The Band in London in 1971
Side by side: Dylan and Robertson are seen performing together at the New York Academy of Music in early 1972
During his own childhood visits to his maternal family on the reservation, Robertson quickly developed an enduring fondness for music.
“It seemed to me that everyone was playing a musical instrument or singing or dancing. I thought, ‘I need to join this club!’ he told the Guardian.
His instrument of choice was the guitar, which he said looked “pretty cool,” prompting his mother to give him a guitar with a cowboy painting on it.
“I thought it was very ironic that Indians would teach me to play guitar with an image of a cowboy,” Robertson recalled wryly.
During his teenage years he began working on the fringes of the entertainment industry, appearing at carnivals and even a freak show.
At the age of 15 he joined the burgeoning rock scene in Toronto – and in 1958 he helped found the group that became The Band.
Under their original name The Hawks, they supported Ronnie Hawkins, the rockabilly star who died last year aged 87.
They formed a band in 1967 – but not before playing with Bob Dylan on his furiously polarizing electronic tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREURbGGrgM
Legendary: After the controversial Dylan tour, the Hawks formed a band and released their groundbreaking debut album Music From Big Pink in 1968
Bonds: Robertson also enjoyed a long professional relationship with Martin Scorsese, including as solo composer of a number of the filmmaker’s classics; The couple is pictured at Cannes in 1978
Remember when: Scorsese fan favorites like “Raging Bull” (pictured), “The King Of Comedy” and “The Wolf Of Wall Street” featured original music by Robertson
“We got booed all over North America, Australia and Europe, and people said this wasn’t working, and we kept going, and Bob didn’t move,” Robertson told Mojo years later.
An enduring friendship developed between Dylan and Robertson, as the latter recounts in his memoir Testimony, in which he writes about how they got stoned together and blended into an artistic social circle that has stretched from The Beatles to Salvador Dali.
After the controversial Dylan tour, the Hawks formed a band and released their seminal debut album Music From Big Pink in 1968.
Dylan helped write several of the album’s songs, including Tears Of Rage, This Wheel’s On Fire, and I Shall Be Released.
Mixing genres like soul, country and rock, Music From Big Pink had a profound influence on such high-profile artists as Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd.
A year after Music From Big Pink, the band released a self-titled album that featured some of their best-known songs to date.
They continued to perform with Bob Dylan, including a 1968 Carnegie Hall concert and a 1974 performance at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Florida.
Though no stranger to drugs, Robertson managed to sidestep the heroin problem that gripped his bandmates as their rise to fame continued.
On stage in 1974: Robertson noted in his memoir that as the band slid toward disintegration, “self-destruction had become the force that ruled us.”
Legendary: In 1976, six years after landing on the cover of Time Magazine, the band performed their legendary farewell show, The Last Waltz, at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom
Conclusion: It was this famous concert that marked the birth of Robertson’s relationship with Martin Scorsese, who filmed the performance for an acclaimed rock documentary
“Let me be very clear: I was no angel. “I wasn’t the man in charge,” he told Salon a few years ago. “I was just better off than everyone else and I could say, ‘Is everyone okay?’ But even when people aren’t okay, they say they are.’
However, he couldn’t avoid a bitter feud with the band’s drummer, Levon Helm, which arose over a dispute over copyright issues and songwriting credits.
Ultimately, tensions between the musicians became insurmountable over drugs and the business side of their relationship.
Robertson noted in his memoir that as the band slid toward disintegration, “Self-destruction had become the force that ruled us.”
In 1976, six years after landing on the cover of Time Magazine, they performed their legendary farewell show, The Last Waltz, at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.
A cavalry of guest stars joined the band on stage including Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters and Dylan.
It was this concert that marked the birth of Robertson’s relationship with Martin Scorsese, who filmed the performance for a critically acclaimed rock documentary.
According to Helm, Robertson – whose decision it was to break up the band – was so pale with fatigue that his wife had to put make-up on him in front of the camera.
The way they were: Robertson is pictured on stage in 1974 with Danko, who died of heart failure in 1999 at the age of 55 after years of heroin use
Robertson eventually broke away from the band but retained his professional connection with Scorsese as a composer of several of his films.
Fan favorites like Raging Bull, The King Of Comedy and The Wolf Of Wall Street all feature original Robertson music, as well as lesser-known features like Silence.
Meanwhile, other members of the band fell victim to their demons — pianist Richard Manuel hanged himself in 1986, a decade after The Last Waltz, and bassist Rick Danko died of heart failure in 1999 after years of heroin use.
Levon Helm died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 71 – and while unconscious he received a deathbed visit from Robertson, who never got around to fixing fences with him.
Looking back on his time with The Band, Robertson said it was ‘like everything else – half of it was beautiful and the other half I didn’t know what the hell was going on.’ It’s a balancing act.’
He claimed, “God, there were good intentions.” John Lennon really wanted people to connect in the most beautiful way possible. Who doesn’t want peace? Or that love is special and the most important thing in the world?’
Robertson wistfully concluded his assessment: “To think, looking back, ‘That’s a waste’ is awful. People really meant well.”