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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteLevon Helm, the drummer and singer whose earthy voice and precise, supple playing helped define The Band, died of throat cancer on April 19, 2012, aged 71. He was one of the group’s singers—not its only frontman—and a musician whose career ran from the rock ’n’ roll road with Ronnie Hawkins to Bob Dylan’s electric touring band, The Band’s landmark recordings, and intimate concerts at his Woodstock barn.
From Arkansas to Ronnie Hawkins’s band
Born in Arkansas, Helm became a professional musician as a teenager. In 1960, he joined Ronnie Hawkins’s backing group, the Hawks. The band’s demanding road work brought Helm together with musicians who would later form The Band, including guitarist Robbie Robertson. The group developed a tight, road-tested sound built around its members’ different voices and instrumental strengths.
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Bob Dylan, the electric band, and The Band
Helm and Robertson later joined Bob Dylan’s touring group during Dylan’s shift to electric performance. The period placed the musicians at the center of a contentious change in popular music, as Dylan brought amplified arrangements to audiences accustomed to his acoustic folk performances. Accounts differ about where Dylan first encountered the Hawks, so the meeting’s location should not be treated as settled.
The musicians eventually became The Band. Their 1968 debut, Music from Big Pink, offered a roots-oriented alternative to some of the era’s psychedelic and harder-rock sounds. The group’s music drew on rock, country, folk, and blues without reducing those influences to a single style. Its members shared singing and songwriting duties; Helm’s voice and drumming were vital parts of that collective identity.
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What Levon Helm brought to The Band
Helm’s singing had a direct, lived-in quality, while his drumming supplied movement without crowding the songs. He sang lead on celebrated Band performances including “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” The songs are often associated with his voice, but The Band was a group of distinct musicians and singers, and its sound depended on their interplay.
The Band ended its initial touring period with a farewell concert in 1976, captured in Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Waltz. Helm later recounted his life and the group’s history in his 1993 memoir, This Wheel’s on Fire.
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Throat cancer, the Midnight Ramble, and solo recordings
Throat cancer damaged Helm’s voice and kept him from singing for a time. After recovering, he returned to music and began hosting the Midnight Ramble concerts at his barn and studio in Woodstock, New York. The gatherings brought guest artists into an informal performance setting and became a new chapter in his career.
Helm also recorded solo albums, including Dirt Farmer (2007) and Electric Dirt (2009). These later projects placed his own voice and musical interests at the center, distinct from his work within The Band.
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Levon Helm’s death
Helm died in New York on April 19, 2012, from throat cancer, aged 71. His longtime guitarist Larry Campbell told Rolling Stone: “He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates.”
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- Our window on a long gone world opens with a piece by the legendary Count Basie Orchestra of the late 1930s. From the simplest of riff patterns, developed in the heady atmosphere of Kansas City jam sessions, an arrangement like Sent For You Yesterday would emerge, complete with fine solos and propulsive section work, the momentum supplied by one of the most perfect rhythm teams in all of jazz.
- Our window on a long gone world opens with a piece by the legendary Count Basie Orchestra of the late 1930s. From the simplest of riff patterns, developed in the heady atmosphere of Kansas City jam sessions, an arrangement like Sent For You Yesterday would emerge, complete with fine solos and propulsive section work, the momentum supplied by one of the most perfect rhythm teams in all of jazz.
- Jack Teagarden (1905-64), another Texan, was the most celebrated jazz trombonist of his day but a reluctant band leader, with little appetite for business. His playing was always relaxed, at its best in the company of his peers.
- Benny Goodman's triumph at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, marked the official start to the 'swing era'. Sidemen became the focus of unprecedented attention, much like soccer players today, and crowds gathered wherever Goodman appeared.
- Louis Armstrong (1901-71), the fabulous 'Satchmo', was the single most important innovator in early jazz. By 1942, he had become a popular entertainer and a familiar presence in musical films
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