Levon Helm
Levon Helm | |
---|---|
Born | Mark Lavon Helm May 26, 1940 Elaine, Arkansas, U.S. |
Died | April 19, 2012 New York City, U.S. | (aged 71)
Resting place | Woodstock Cemetery |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1957–2012 |
Spouse |
Sandra Dodd (m. 1981) |
Partner | Libby Titus (1969–1978) |
Children | Amy Helm |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument(s) |
|
Labels | |
Formerly of | |
Website | levonhelm |
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012)[1] was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".
Helm also had a successful career as a film actor, appearing as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff (1983), as a Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter (2007), and as General John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist (2009).
In 1998, Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer which caused him to lose his singing voice. After treatment, his cancer eventually went into remission, and he gradually regained the use of his voice. His 2007 comeback album Dirt Farmer earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 91 in its list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.[2] In 2010, Electric Dirt, his 2009 follow-up to Dirt Farmer, won the first Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, a category inaugurated in 2010.[3] In 2011, his live album Ramble at the Ryman won the Grammy in the same category.[4] In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 22 in its list of 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time.[5]
Biography
Early years
Born Mark Lavon Helm in Elaine, Arkansas,[6] Helm grew up in Turkey Scratch, a hamlet of Marvell, Arkansas.[7] His parents, Nell and Diamond Helm, were cotton farmers who shared a strong affinity for music. They encouraged their children to play and sing at a young age. He saw Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys at the age of six and decided to become a musician. Helm began playing the guitar at the age of eight and also played drums.
Arkansas in the 1940s and '50s stood at the confluence of a variety of musical styles, including traditional
A key early influence on Helm was
Helm also witnessed some of the earliest performances by early rock and roll and rockabilly artists, including Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley and fellow Arkansan Ronnie Hawkins. At age 17, Helm began playing in clubs and bars around Helena.
The Hawks
While he was still in high school, Helm was invited to join Ronnie Hawkins' band, the Hawks, a popular bar and club act in the South and Canada where rockabilly acts were very successful. Helm's mother insisted that he graduate from high school before touring with Hawkins, but he was able to play with the Hawks locally on weekends.[8] After his graduation in 1958, Helm joined the Hawks as a full-time member and they moved to Toronto where they signed with Roulette Records in 1959 and released several singles, including a few hits.
Helm reported in his autobiography that fellow Hawks band members had difficulty pronouncing "Lavon" correctly and started calling him "Levon" (/ˈliːvɒn/ LEE-von) because it was easier to pronounce.
In 1961, Helm with bassist Rick Danko backed jazz guitarist Lenny Breau on several tracks recorded at Hallmark Studios in Toronto. These tracks are included on the 2003 release The Hallmark Sessions.[9]
By the early 1960s, Helm and Hawkins had recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel, and organist Garth Hudson, all of whom were multi-instrumentalists. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring as Levon and the Hawks and later as the Canadian Squires, before changing back to the Hawks. They recorded two singles but remained mostly a popular touring bar band in Texas, Arkansas, Canada, and on the East Coast of the United States where they found regular summer club gigs on the New Jersey shore.
By the mid-1960s, songwriter and musician
After the Hawks toured Europe with Dylan, they followed him back to the U.S., remaining under salary, and settled near Dylan's home in Woodstock, New York. The Hawks recorded a large number of demos and practice tapes in nearby West Saugerties, New York, playing almost daily with Dylan, who had completely withdrawn from public life following a motorcycle accident in July 1966. These recordings were widely bootlegged and were partially released officially in 1975 as The Basement Tapes. The songs and themes developed during this period played a crucial role in the group's future direction and style. The Hawks also began writing their own songs, with Danko and Manuel also sharing writing credits with Dylan on a few songs.
The Band
Helm returned to the group, then referred to simply as "the band,” as it was known around Woodstock. While contemplating a recording contract, Helm had dubbed the band "The Crackers.” However, when Robertson and their new manager Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was given as "The Band.” Under these contracts, the Band was contracted to Grossman, who in turn contracted their services to Capitol Records. This arrangement allowed the Band to release recordings on other labels if the work was done in support of Dylan.[citation needed] Thus the Band was able to play on Dylan's Planet Waves album and to release The Last Waltz, both on other labels. The Band also recorded their own album Music from Big Pink (1968), which catapulted them into stardom. Helm was the Band's only American member.
On Music from Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang backup and harmony, with the exception of "The Weight". However, as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robbie Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked to the South for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's vocals, alone or in harmony with Danko. Helm was primarily a drummer and vocalist and increasingly sang lead, although, like all his bandmates, he was also a multi-instrumentalist. On occasion Manuel switched to drums while Helm played mandolin, guitar, or bass guitar (while Danko played fiddle) on some songs. Helm played the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp".[10]
Helm remained with the Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, which was the subject of the documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. Helm repudiated his involvement with The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes. In his autobiography Helm criticized the film and Robertson who produced it.[11]
Solo, acting and the reformed Band
With the breakup of the Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo-ensemble album,
This was followed in 1978 by the solo album
In addition to his work as musician, Helm also acted in several dramatic films. He was cast as
In 1983, the Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, at first playing with an expanded lineup that included the entire
In 1989, Helm and Danko toured with drummer
In the televised
Helm performed with Danko and Hudson as the Band in 1990 at Roger Waters's epic The Wall – Live in Berlin Concert in Germany to an estimated 300,000 to half a million people.
In 1993, Helm published an autobiography entitled This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band.
The Midnight Ramble
Helm's performance career in the 2000s revolved mainly around the Midnight Ramble at his home and studio, "The Barn," in Woodstock, New York. These concerts, featuring Helm and various musical guests, allowed him to raise money for his medical bills and to resume performing after a bout with cancer that nearly ended his career.
In the late 1990s, Helm was diagnosed with
The Levon Helm Band featured his daughter Amy Helm, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Jim Weider (The Band's last guitarist), Jimmy Vivino, Mike Merritt, Brian Mitchell, Erik Lawrence, Steven Bernstein, Howard Johnson (tuba player in the horn section on the Band's Rock of Ages and The Last Waltz), Clark Gayton, Jay Collins (Helm's now former son-in-law), Byron Isaacs, and blues harmonica player Little Sammy Davis. Helm hosted Midnight Rambles that were open to the public at his home in Woodstock.
The Midnight Ramble was an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in The Last Waltz. Earlier in the 20th century, Helm recounted, traveling medicine shows and music shows such as F. S. Wolcott's Original Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put on titillating performances in rural areas. (This was also turned into a song by the Band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.)
"After the finale, they'd have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, the show resumed: "The songs would get a little bit juicier. The jokes would get a little funnier and the prettiest dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of the rock and roll duck walks and moves came from that."
Artists who performed at the Rambles include Helm's former bandmate
During this period, Helm switched to the
Helm was busy touring every year during the 2000s, generally traveling by tour bus to venues in eastern Canada and the eastern United States. After 2007, he performed in large venues such the
In 2012, Levon Helm and his "midnight rambles" were featured on the PBS Arts site, "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders," including a poignant last interview with PBS's Marco Werman.[14]
Dirt Farmer and comeback
The autumn of 2007 saw the release of
Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, Lavon (Lee) Henry Collins.[15][16]
In 2008, Helm performed at
Helm drummed on a couple of tracks for Jorma Kaukonen's February 2009 album River of Time, recorded at the Levon Helm Studios.
Helm released the album
A documentary on Helm's day-to-day life, entitled Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm was released in March 2010. Directed by Jacob Hatley, it made its debut at the
On May 11, 2011, Helm released Ramble at the Ryman, a live album recorded during his performance of September 17, 2008, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The album features Helm's band playing six songs by the Band and other cover material, including some songs from previous Helm solo releases.[22] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.[4]
Some of his last sessions recorded in 2011 with
Illness and death
In April 2012, during the
On April 17, 2012, Helm's wife Sandy and daughter Amy revealed that he had end-stage throat cancer. They posted the following message on Helm's website:
Dear Friends,
Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.
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.
From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy[25]
On April 18, Robertson revealed on his Facebook page that he had a long visit with Helm at
Fans were invited to a public wake at Helm's Barn studio complex on April 26. Approximately 2,000 fans came to pay their respects to the rock icon. The following day, after a private funeral service and a procession through the streets of Woodstock, Helm was interred in the Woodstock Cemetery, within sight of the grave of his longtime bandmate and friend Rick Danko. Former President Bill Clinton issued a statement following Helm's passing.[31]
Legacy
George Harrison said that while writing his 1970 song "All Things Must Pass", he imagined Levon Helm singing it.[32]
Elton John's lyricist, Bernie Taupin named the song "Levon" after Helm, although the song is not actually about him.[33] Both John and Taupin cited that they were inspired by Helm; Taupin saying in various interviews that they would "go down to their favourite record stores to buy The Band's records" along with Elton.[34] In 1994, Helm was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Band.
Marc Cohn wrote the song "Listening to Levon" in 2007. "The Man behind the Drums," written by Robert Earl Keen and Bill Whitbeck, appeared on Keen's 2009 album The Rose Hotel.
At a concert on May 2, 2012, at the
On June 2, 2012, at Mountain Jam, Gov't Mule along with the Levon Helm Band (with Lukas Nelson coming on stage for the closing song) played a tribute set, including "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Up on Cripple Creek,""It Makes No Difference," and closing with "The Weight".[36]
A tribute concert called
At the 2013
Personal life
Helm met singer-songwriter Libby Titus in April 1969, while the Band was recording its second album.[40] They began a lengthy relationship which produced daughter Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970).[41] Amy formed the band Ollabelle and performed with her father's band at the Midnight Rambles and other concerts.
Helm met Sandra Dodd in 1975 in California, while he was still involved with Titus. Helm and Dodd were married on September 7, 1981. They had no children together.[42]
Discography
Studio albums
- Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars (1977)
- Levon Helm (1978)
- American Son (1980)
- Levon Helm (1982)
- Souvenir, Vol. 1 with the Crowmatix (1998)
- Dirt Farmer (2007)
- Electric Dirt (2009)
Soundtrack
- Staying Together ("Lean on Me", "Hotel Buick", and "Big Love in a Small Town") (1989)[43]
Other appearances
- "Blue Moon of Kentucky" – for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
- "Soulful Wind" – for Labour of Love: The Music of Nick Lowe (2001)
- "You Better Move On" – for The Imus Ranch Record (2008)
- "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" – for The Imus Ranch Record II (2010)
- "You'll Never Again Be Mine" – for The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams (2011)
Live albums
- The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Volume One (2006)
- The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Volume Two (2006)
- Levon Helm & the RCO All Stars: Live at the Palladium NYC, New Years Eve 1977 (2006)
- FestivalLink.Net presents: Levon Helm Band MerleFest Ramble (MerleFest, NC 4/26/08)
- Ramble at the Ryman (2011)
- The Midnight Ramble Sessions, Volume Three (2014)
- Carry Me Home with Mavis Staples(2022)
Live appearances
- Musical guest performing "Sweet Peach Georgia Wine" and "Summertime Blues" with the Cate Brothers Band, and interacting with Eugene Levy, on Episode #79 ("One on the Town"), Second City Television Network ("SCTV") May 15, 1981
- "Going Back to Memphis" with James Cotten – for The Mississippi River of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi (1998)
Session work
With John P. Hammond
- So Many Roads (1965)
With Muddy Waters
- The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album (Chess, 1975)
With Eric Clapton
- No Reason to Cry (RSO, 1976)
With Paul Burlison
- Train Kept a-Rollin' (1997)[44]
With Jorma Kaukonen
- River of Time (2009)
Other
- The Legend of Jesse James (1980)
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | The Last Waltz | Himself – drums / mandolin / vocal | Documentary |
1980 | Coal Miner's Daughter | Ted Webb | |
1982 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | Stormy Weathers | Episode: "Catch a Falling Star" |
1983 | The Right Stuff | Jack Ridley / Narrator | |
1984 | The Dollmaker | Clovis | TV movie |
1984 | Best Revenge | Bo | |
1985 | Smooth Talk | Harry | |
1987 | End of the Line | Leo Pickett | |
1987 | Man Outside | Sheriff Leland Laughlin | |
1989 | Staying Together | Denny Stockton | |
1990 | The Wall – Live in Berlin | Video documentary | |
1993 | The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration | ||
1996 | Feeling Minnesota | Bible Salesman | |
1997 | Fire Down Below | Rev. Goodall | |
1998 | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Juvie Bob | |
2003 | Festival Express | Himself – The Band | Documentary |
2005 | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Old Man with Radio | |
2005 | The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico | Himself | |
2007 | Shooter | Mr. Rate | |
2008 | Only Halfway Home | Helm – Levon | |
2009 | In the Electric Mist | General John Bell Hood | Final acting role |
2010 | Ain't in It for My Health – A Film about Levon Helm | Himself | Documentary |
References
- ^ "Levon Helm Dies at 71". Poughkeepsie Journal.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ "100 Greatest Singers: Levon Helm". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 4, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ "Woodstock residents Levon Helm, Steve Earle win Grammys". dailyfreeman.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
- ^ a b "Best Americana Album". Grammy.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
- ^ "100 Greatest Drummers: Levon Helm". Rolling Stone. March 31, 2016.
- ^ "Levon Helm Biography". Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
- ^ a b c Bowden, Bill. "Helming A Memorial: Musician's fans hope for statue, restored boyhood home in Marvell." The Free Weekly, August 3, 2017. 2.
- ISBN 9780688109066. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ^ "Lenny Breau: The Hallmark Sessions". Theband.hiof.no. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- ^ "Who Plays What Instruments "Index"". Geocities.jp. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
- ISBN 9780688109066. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ^ "Levon Helm's midnight ramble with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals // Grace Potter and the Nocturnals". This Is Somewhere. January 11, 2010. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "The Band's Levon Helm, Making Music Again". NPR. July 29, 2006. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Levon Helm | Quick Hits | Sound Tracks | PBS". PBS. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
- ISBN 9780688109066. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ^ "Browse businesses and events in Los Angeles – FindLocal Los Angeles Times". calendarlive.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
- ^ "2008 Bonnaroo Lineup". Bonnaroo.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
- ^ "Wanee Music Festival – April 11th & 12th Live Oak, Florida". Waneefestival.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Levon Helm Going "Electric" This June". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Levon Helm and Larry Campbell: Building A Band". Jambands.com. May 25, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
- ^ "Living legend Levon Helm finally gets his close-up in 'Health' - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. June 25, 2010. Archived from the original on July 2, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ Mark Deming. "Ramble at the Ryman review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ^ "Robbie Robertson Sends "Love and Prayers" to Levon Helm at Rock Hall Ceremony". April 16, 2012. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
- ^ Malanowski, Jamie (October 11, 2012). "Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
- ^ "Levon Helm, singer and drummer for The Band, in final stages of cancer". LevonHelm.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- ^ Collis, Clark (April 19, 2012). "Robbie Robertson pays tribute to ailing Levon Helm: 'I will miss him and love forever'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ "Robbie Robertson on Ailing Levon Helm: 'I'll Miss Him and Love Him Forever'". ABCNews.com. April 19, 2012. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
- ^ Browne, David (April 19, 2012). "Levon Helm, Drummer and Singer of The Band, Dead at 71". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ "Levon Helm dead at age 71". Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
- ^ Jon Pareles (April 20, 2012). "Levon Helm, Drummer and Rough-Throated Singer for The Band, Dies at 71". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
- ^ "Bill Clinton Remembers Levon Helm". Jambands. April 20, 2012.
- ^ "George Harrison: 'All Things' In Good Time". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- ^ "In the Elton John song "Levon," who is Alvin Tostig?". The Straight Dope. March 24, 2000. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Bernie Taupin :: Blog". Berniejtaupin.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ Kurt Schlosser (May 3, 2012). "Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to Levon Helm with cover of 'The Weight' - NBC News.com". Entertainment.msnbc.msn.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^ "Need We Say More? > News > Levon Helm Tributes Highlight Mountain Jam 2012". Jambands.com. June 4, 2012. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ "Welcome". Love For Levon. October 3, 2012. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ "Levon Helm To Be Celebrated With "Love For Levon"On October 3, 2012 at the Izod Center". Love For Levon. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
- ^ "Elton John, Mumford Sons Lead Tribute to Levon Helm at Grammys | Music News". Rolling Stone. February 11, 2013. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ISBN 9780688109066. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ISBN 9780688109066. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ISBN 9780688109066. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ^ Various - Staying Together (Original Soundtrack), 1989, retrieved April 28, 2023
- ^ Paul Burlison - Train Kept A-Rollin' Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved May 5, 2023
External links
- Official website
- Levon Helm at IMDb
- AllMusic