The Band

The Band was a Canadian-American rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1967. It consisted of Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, songwriting, vocals, piano, percussion), and American Levon Helm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar, bass). The Band combined elements of Americana, folk, rock, jazz, country, and R&B, influencing musicians such as George Harrison, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton and Wilco.

Between 1958 and 1963, the group was known as the Hawks, a backing band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. In the mid-1960s, they gained recognition for backing Bob Dylan and the 1966 concert tour was notable as Dylan’s first with an electric band. After leaving Dylan and changing their name to “The Band”, they released several records to critical and popular acclaim, including their debut album Music from Big Pink in 1968. According to AllMusic, the album’s influence on several generations of musicians has been substantial: musician Roger Waters called Music from Big Pink the second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll, and music journalist Al Aronowitz called it “country soul … a sound never heard before”. Their most popular songs included “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, and “Up on Cripple Creek”.

The Band performed their farewell concert on November 25, 1976. Footage from the event was released in 1978 as the concert film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. It would be the last performance of the original five members. After five years apart, Danko, Hudson, Helm, and Manuel reunited in 1983 (without Robertson) for a reunion tour. Robertson had taken up a second career as a successful producer and composer for film soundtracks. Manuel died in 1986, but the remaining three members would continue to tour and occasionally release new albums of studio material until 1999, when, upon the death of Danko, the remaining members decided to break up for good. Helm would go on to a successful solo career, winning multiple Grammy Awards in the folk and Americana categories until his 2012 death, while Hudson found a second career as a featured session musician. Robertson died in 2023, leaving Hudson as the only living member of the original lineup.

Music critic Bruce Eder described the Band as “one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics … as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.” The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them 50th on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time, and ranked “The Weight” 41st on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2008, the group received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, they were inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

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