Levon Helm, the singer and drummer with The Band, is dead of cancer at age 71. The end came yesterday (Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City surrounded by family and friends. Larry Campbell, his bandleader and guitarist, says, “All his friends were there, and it seemed like Levon was waiting for them. 10 minutes after they left we sat there and he just faded away. He did it with dignity. It was even two days ago they thought it would happen within hours, but he held on. It seems like he was Levon up to the end, doing it the way he wanted to do it. He loved us, we loved him.” Campbell adds that there will be a memorial service, the details of which have not yet been finalized.
- Mark Levon Helm was born in Elaine, Arkansas in 1940 and grew up listening to country and Delta Blues.
- He joined Ronnie Hawkins in The Hawks in 1957.
- The Band backed Bob Dylan before striking out on their own in 1968 with Music From Big Pink.
- Helm starred in such movies as Coal Miner’s Daughter and The Right Stuff.
- He was a member of Ringo Starr‘s first All-Starr Band in 1989 and sadly the fourth member of that line-up to pass away following Rick Danko, Billy Preston and Clarence Clemons.
- Cancer treatments kept him from performing between 1996 and 2004, but since that time he’d experienced a career renaissance and even won three Grammys since 2008.
- He leaves behind his wife Sandy and daughter Amy.
On Tuesday, Helm’s daughter Amy and wife Sandy posted the following on his website: “Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration… He has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage… We appreciate all the love and support and concern.”
Helm, the voice of such Band classics as “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” has had numerous health issues since being diagnosed with throat cancer in 1996.
The only American member of The Band — the other four were Canadian — Mark Levon Helm was born in Elaine, Arkansas on May 26th, 1940 and grew up to the sounds of the Grand Ole Opry and Sonny Boy Williamson and His King Biscuit Entertainers on the radio. Steeped in the Delta Blues, Levon got his first guitar at age nine and took up the drums at 14. When he was 12, he and his sister Linda would perform as Levon and Linda, winning numerous talent contests along the Arkansas 4-H Club circuit.
In 1957 Levon met Ronnie Hawkins and joined his band, The Hawks, as its drummer. Hawkins eventually recruited Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, laying the foundation for one of the era’s best groups. In the mid-’60s The Hawks left Hawkins and hooked up with Bob Dylan to become his first electric band, but Levon couldn’t take the booing from the folk purists who objected to Dylan going electric. and he left shortly there afterwards.
The Band, as they would come to be known, eventually joined Dylan in Woodstock, New York, and Levon made the trip there in 1967. In 1968 they recorded and released their debut album, Music From Big Pink, and followed that up with six studio albums before calling it quits in 1976 with an all-star concert in San Francisco that was dubbed The Last Waltz.
Following the demise of The Band, Levon formed his own group, The RCO All-Stars, in 1977; played with other artists; and went into acting, picking up roles in such notable films as Coal Miner’s Daughter and The Right Stuff before re-forming The Band, minus Robertson, in 1983. Richard Manuel took his own life on the road in 1986, but The Band soldiered on and off until the death of Rick Danko in 1999. Levon was also in Ringo Starr‘s first All-Starr Band in 1989 along with Danko.
In 1996 Levon was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent 28 radiation treatments before being able to sing again in 2004. Since that time he’d had a renaissance — performing with his daughter Amy, staging his Midnight Ramble shows at his home studio in Woodstock, New York, narrating TV shows and movies, and winning three Grammy Awards since 2008.
The music industry pays tribute:
Garth Hudson, his bandmate in The Band:
“I am terribly sad. Thank you for 50 years of friendship and music. Memories that live on with us. No more sorrows, no more troubles, no more pain. He went peacefully to that beautiful marvelous wonderful place. He was Buddy Rich‘s favorite rock drummer… and my friend. Levon, I’m proud of you.”
Robbie Robertson:
“Last week I was shocked and so saddened to hear that my old band mate, Levon, was in the final stages of his battle with cancer. It hit me really hard because I thought he had beaten throat cancer and had no idea that he was this ill. I spoke with his family and made arrangements to go and see him.
On Sunday I went to New York and visited him in the hospital. I sat with Levon for a good while, and thought of the incredible and beautiful times we had together. It was heartwarming to be greeted by his lovely daughter Amy, whom I have known since she was born. Amy’s mother, Libby Titus, and her husband, [Steely Dan's] Donald Fagen, were so kind to help walk me through this terrible time of sadness. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sandy. Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I’ve ever known and very much like an older brother to me. I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever.”
Bob Dylan:
“He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation.”
Elton John (to EW.com):
“When I heard The Band’s Music from Big Pink, their music changed my life. And Levon was a big part of that band. Nigel Olson [sic], my drummer, will tell you that every drummer that heard him was influenced by him. He was the greatest drummer and a wonderful singer and just a part of my life that was magical. They once flew down to see me in Philadelphia and I couldn’t believe it. They were one of the greatest bands of all time. They really changed the face of music when their records came out. I had no idea he was sick so I’m very dismayed and shocked that he died so quickly. But now my son [Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John] has his name.”
Bernie Taupin (excerpted from an eight paragraph reminiscence on his website):
“The first time I heard Levon Helm’s voice was in a small record shop on Berwick Street in Soho London sometime around 1969. What was it like? Paul on the road to Damascus!…A voice that seemed as it was birthed from the land from which he sprung. Rich as Arkansas soil and raw as a plug of tobacco, gnarly as knotted pine and so expressive it seemed like he was chewing on the words before they left his mouth. Now he’s gone and our anemic musical horizon has one less icon to cling to and one more legacy to embrace.”
Loretta Lynn, whose father Levon portrayed in the film Coal Miner’s Daughter:
“Levon Helm will always hold a special place in my heart. He was as great of an actor as a musician. For me watching him play the role of my daddy in Coal Miner’s Daughter is a memory I will always treasure.”
Ronnie Hawkins, who gave Levon his start in The Hawks:
“Levon was my right arm, my left arm and both of my legs. He got into my band in 1957… Levon was the best rhythm man I’ve ever seen. He had no schooling in music, but he already had a reputation by the time he started with me. He was a jokester, too. He laughed at everything. And it wasn’t long before he was running the band.”
Joe Perry of Aerosmith (via Tweet):
“Sad bout Levon, Dick Clark. Both have huge places in my musical hist. tho came from dif ends of music. black days when legends pass.”
Mickey Hart:
“We just lost an original… Now Jerry [Garcia] has a great rhythm section…
Levon was an amazing rhythm master…Rollin’ and tumblin’, his backbeat bringing home the sweetest groove this side of Congo Square. And the grit in his voice…magnetic. Bon voyage Levon.”
Kris Kristofferson:
“Levon is one of the best people I’ve known in my life – both as an artist and as a human being. He’s my favorite singer and drummer of all time. God bless him, Sandy and Amy, it will be a sadder world without him.”
Tommy Shaw of Styx:
“That down home storyteller vocal style and laid back feel of his on the drums is forever etched into my musical upbringing. And he’s in heavy rotation in my heart as the news sinks in.”
Amazon.com is previewing The Beach Boys upcoming album on its website. Clips from all 12 cuts of That’s Why God Made the Radio were posted yesterday on Amazon’s website. Ranging from dreamy ballads to “Kokomo”-esque tropical tunes and mid-tempo numbers recalling their Friends period, many of the songs have a leisure, or fun-in-the-sun theme. And there are plenty of their signature harmonies. We created a montage of the songs for you to enjoy as a preview. 
