Bob Dylan has paid tribute to his “lifelong friend” Robbie Robertson following his loss of life aged 80, saying “his passing leaves a vacancy in the world”.
Canadian-born Robertson toured with the veteran singer because the lead guitarist for his backing band within the mid-Nineteen Sixties, initially known as the Hawks.
The group was later renamed The Band and Robertson helped write numerous their traditional tracks corresponding to The Weight, Up On Cripple Creek and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.
A press release posted on Dylan’s Twitter, now rebranded as X, mentioned: “This is shocking news. Robbie was a lifelong friend.”
“His passing leaves a vacancy in the world,” Dylan mentioned.
The Band – Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson and Robertson – profoundly influenced common music within the Nineteen Sixties and 70s.
They acquired crucial acclaim for his or her first two albums, 1968’s Music From Big Pink and 1969’s self-titled The Band.
In 1974, they appeared on Dylan’s album Planet Waves and his 1975 file The Basement Tapes.
The group held a send-off live performance in 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom that included Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young and Muddy Waters among the many line-up.
The live performance was filmed by Martin Scorsese and was the premise for his celebrated documentary The Last Waltz, launched in 1978.
Robertson additionally lent his musical abilities to Scorsese’s movies together with The Colour Of Money, The King Of Comedy, The Departed and The Irishman.
Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood paid tribute to Robertson by sharing pictures from the rock documentary The Last Waltz, which he featured in.
“Such sad news about Robbie Robertson – he was a lovely man, a great friend and will be dearly missed,” Wood mentioned.
Neil Diamond, who produced Robertson’s album Beautiful Noise, additionally paid tribute to the musician.
The American singer wrote: “The music world lost a great one with the passing of Robbie Robertson. Keep making that Beautiful Noise in the sky, Robbie. I’ll miss you.”
The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Robertson died surrounded by household in Los Angeles “after a long illness”, his publicist Ray Costa confirmed to the AP news company.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
