1898 Peter Clayton*
1928 Alexis Korner*
1938 Bee Houston*
1960 Tom Vieth*
1985 Willie Mabon+
1994 Larry Davis+
2012 Levon Helm+
Demi Evans*
1928 Alexis Korner*
1938 Bee Houston*
1960 Tom Vieth*
1985 Willie Mabon+
1994 Larry Davis+
2012 Levon Helm+
Demi Evans*
Happy Birthday
Alexis Korner Geburtstag 19.04.1928
Alexis
Korner (* 19. April 1928 in Paris als Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner; †
1. Januar 1984 in London) war ein englischer Blues-Musiker. Er gilt als
Schlüsselfigur der britischen Bluesrockszene der 1960er Jahre.[1][2][3]
In seiner Band Blues Incorporated spielten viele spätere britische
Berühmtheiten, wie z. B. Mick Jagger, Ginger Baker, Dick
Heckstall-Smith, Charlie Watts, Cyril Davis, Jack Bruce, Brian Jones,
Duffy Power u.v.m. In den 1970ern war er mit einer Big Band unterwegs
und beschäftigte sich immer auch mit anderen Dingen, blieb aber dem
Blues ein Leben lang treu. Auch die deutsche Bluesszene hat er erheblich
mitgeprägt, so arbeitete er z. B. mit Klaus Doldinger und der Frankfurt
City Blues Band zusammen. Aber auch andere europäische Länder, wie z.
B. Dänemark, wo er mit Peter Thorup, Young Flowers und anderen
arbeitete, haben durch Alexis Korner einen Bluesboom erfahren.Leben und Wirken
1928–1948: Kindheit und Jugend
Korner wuchs multikulturell auf: Sein Vater war österreichischer Kavallerieoffizier, seine Mutter türkisch-griechischer Herkunft. Die Familie lebte in der Schweiz, in Frankreich und Nordafrika und floh zu Beginn des Zweiten Weltkrieges mit einem der letzten Schiffe nach England, wo Korner ab Mitte der 1940er Jahre als Amateur bei Chris Barbers Band Banjo spielte.
1948–1961: Als Soldat in Deutschland & Skiffle Boom
Alexis Korner gilt als einer der wichtigsten Vertreter des Blues-Revival Anfang der 1960er Jahre. Der Melody Maker bezeichnete ihn auch als „Vater des britischen Blues“.[4] Zudem wurde er, wie auch John Mayall „Vater des weißen Blues“ genannt. 1947/48 war er als Soldat Alec Korner in Hamburg stationiert. Dort betreute er das Schallplattenarchiv des BFN[5] und moderierte Musiksendungen für den BFN; auch spielte er in Jazzlokalen in Hamburg.[6]. Außerdem moderierte er von Mitte 1948 bis Ende 1948 die Sendung Jazz Studio beim NWDR, die aber wegen Zuschauerprotesten eingestellt wurde (der Einbezug des Bebop missfiel einigen Hörern)[7]. Ende der 1940er Jahre spielte Korner als halbprofessioneller Musiker in der Jazzband von Chris Barber. Anfang der 1950er Jahre spielte er in diversen Londoner Skiffle Bands. 1954 entstanden erste Aufnahmen mit ihm bei Ken Colyer, 1958 entstanden Aufnahmen mit seiner Skiffle-Band für Tempo (Blues from the Roadhouse). Bei Barber lernte er den Bluesfan und Mundharmonikaspieler Cyril Davies kennen.
1961–1967: Blues Incorporated
Mit Cyril Davies zusammen gründete er die von 1961 bis 1967 bestehende Gruppe Blues Incorporated. In ihr spielten und sangen Persönlichkeiten wie Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Danny Thompson, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Eric Burdon, Graham Bond, Dick Heckstall-Smith, die zu Keimzellen von Gruppen wie den Rolling Stones, Cream, den Animals, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band oder Colosseum wurden. Blues Inc. traten oft in der BBC auf und waren mit Cyril Davies' R&B All-Stars zusammen die erste europäische Bluesband, die elektrisch verstärkt spielte. 1963 verließ Davies die Band um sich mehr dem Blues zu widmen, da Korner einen Bläsersatz in die Band geholt hatte und die Musik für Davies zu jazzig geworden war.
1967–1969: Free At Last & New Church
Anschließend rief Korner mit Cliff Barton, Victor Brox, Gerry Conway, Marsha Hunt, Hughie Flint und Binky McKenzie die Gruppe Free At Last ins Leben, die nur wenige Monate lang existierte. Danach trat er mit Brox im Duett auf – und mit Robert Plant und Pianist Steve Miller im Trio. 1968 folgte mit dem dänischen Sänger Peter Thorup und dessen Band „Beefeaters“ eine Skandinavien-Tour. Nach der Rückkehr nach England realisierte Korner mit seiner Tochter Sappho, Thorup, Nick South, Ray Warleigh, Annette Brox, Per Frost und Colin Hodgkinson die New Church, die 1969 das legendäre Konzert der Rolling Stones (zu Ehren des verstorbenen Brian Jones) im Londoner Hyde Park eröffnete.
1970–1973: C.C.S. & Snape
1970 gründeten Korner, Thorup, Produzent Mickie Most und Songschreiber John Cameron die CCS: Vom Blues inspirierter Big Band-Sound traf auf Rockmusik. Mit CCS erhielt Korner zumindest für kurze Zeit sogar bei einem breiteren Publikum Anerkennung. Eine Cover-Version von „Whole Lotta Love“ von Led Zeppelin war der erste Erfolg. 1973 löste sich die Band auf und Korner und Thorup gründeten mit Boz Burrell (King Crimson), Mel Collins und Ian Wallace die Band Snape (CD „Live on Tour in Germany 1973“).
1974–1984: Solokarriere
Anschließend arbeitete Korner, abgesehen von einer intensiven und langjährigen Zusammenarbeit mit Colin Hodgkinson als „Alexis & Colin“, nur noch in kurzfristigen Projekten. Auf seinen nachfolgenden Solo-Alben erhielt er Unterstützung von zahlreichen Musikern aus dem Rock- und dem Jazzlager. An „Get Off of my Cloud“ (1975) waren unter anderem Peter Frampton, Nicky Hopkins und Steve Marriott beteiligt. Auf dem „Party Album“ zu seinem 50. Geburtstag versammelte er 1978 noch einmal die Bläser aus der Blues Incorporated (etwa John Surman, Alan Skidmore, Art Themen oder Chris Pyne). 1981 formierte Korner die Gruppe Rocket 88, von der auch das gleichnamige Album stammt, das live in Deutschland mit dem mobilen Aufnahmestudio der Rolling Stones aufgezeichnet wurde. Seinen letzten öffentlichen Auftritt hatte Alexis Korner am 20. August 1983 in Eindhoven. Im Dezember 1983 entstanden seine letzten Aufnahmen bei der BBC, die auf der Anthology "Kornerstoned" enthalten sind.
Da Alexis gegen Ende des Jahres 1983 über starke Kopfschmerzen klagte, wurde er ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert, wo jedoch nichts festgestellt werden konnte. Im Krankenhaus machte er nur wenige Tage vor seinem Tod letzte Aufnahmen auf einem Tonbandgerät, die aber bis heute auf Wunsch der Familie unveröffentlicht blieben. Am 1. Januar 1984 verstarb Alexis Korner in London an Krebs. Als Reaktion organisierten einige seiner Schützlinge ein Memorial-Konzert mit vielen namhaften Musikern aus Korners Umfeld, welches auch auf LP erschien. Seit 1950 war er mit Roberta Korner, geborene Melville, verheiratet. Aus der Ehe stammen seine Tochter, die Musikerin Sappho Gillett Korner, sowie die Söhne Nicholas und Damián (Damien).
BBC
Rhythm & Blues World Service
Alexis Korner moderierte diese wöchentliche, jeweils 15 minütige Sendung Ende der 1960er Jahre. Hier wurden keine Platten aufgelegt, die Bands spielten stattdessen live im Radio. Hier traten unter anderem Jimi Hendrix und Cream auf. Der Mitschnitt des Hendrixauftritts, bei dem Korner selbst Slidegitarre spielte, ist auf der CD "BBC Sessions" von Hendrix zu hören.
Sympathy For The Devil
1972 moderierte Korner eine dreizehnteilige Sendung zur Geschichte von Rock und Blues namens „Sympathy for the Devil“. Produzenten für den NDR3 waren Horst Königstein und Manfred Miller. Über Ernest Bornemann wurden Verbindungen zu den Popularmusik-Sendungen bei Radio Bremen geknüpft. Die Sendereihe wurde im deutschsprachigen Raum international ausgestrahlt, also auch im Schweizer Fernsehen.
The Devil’s Music
Ende der 1970er Jahre zeichnete die BBC zwei Staffeln dieser Sendung auf. Sie wurde 1979 zum ersten Mal ausgestrahlt. Alexis Korner stellte darin alte Bluesmusiker vor und zeigte deren musikalische Situation zum Ende des Jahrzehnts. Es sollte ein Eindruck davon geschaffen werden, wie sich die frühe Bluesmusik am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts angehört haben mag. Auch hier stellte er wieder viele eher unbekannte Musiker einem breiten Publikum vor. Gäste waren zum Beispiel Big Joe Williams, Bukka White, Houston Stackhouse, Sonny Blake oder Sam Chatmon.[
Guitar Greats
Im Jahre 1983 wurden 13 Folgen dieser Sendung produziert. Darin interviewte Korner die Gitarristen (Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Brian May u.v.m.) , um die es in der Sendung ging, spielte ihre bekannten Lieder, aber auch Raritäten und beleuchtete ihre Karriere. Die Sendung dauerte jeweils eine Stunde und wurde zuletzt 2010 ausgestrahlt.
Alexis Korner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984) was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues".[2] A major influence on the sound of the British music scene in the 1960s,[3] Korner was instrumental in bringing together various English blues musicians.
Early career
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner was born in Paris to an Austrian Jewish father and a Turkish-Greek mother.[4][5] He spent his childhood in France, Switzerland and North Africa and arrived in London in 1940 at the start of World War II. One memory of his youth was listening to a record by black pianist Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid. Korner said, "From then on all I wanted to do was play the blues."[6]
After the war, Korner played piano and guitar (his first guitar was built by friend and author Sydney Hopkins, who wrote Mister God, This Is Anna) and in 1949 joined Chris Barber's Jazz Band[7] where he met blues harmonica player Cyril Davies. They started playing together as a duo, started the influential London Blues and Barrelhouse Club in 1955 and made their first record together in 1957. Korner made his first official record on Decca Records DFE 6286 in the company of Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group. His talent extended to playing mandolin on one of the tracks of this rare British EP, recorded in London on 28 July 1955. Korner brought many American blues artists, previously virtually unknown in Britain, to perform.[8]
The 1960s
In 1961, Korner and Davies formed Blues Incorporated,[9] initially a loose-knit group of musicians with a shared love of electric blues and R&B music. The group included, at various times, such influential musicians as Charlie Watts, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Long John Baldry, Graham Bond, Danny Thompson and Dick Heckstall-Smith. It also attracted a wider crowd of mostly younger fans, some of whom occasionally performed with the group, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Geoff Bradford, Rod Stewart, John Mayall and Jimmy Page.[10]
One story is that the Rolling Stones went to stay at Korner's house late one night, in the early 1960s, after a performance. They entered in the accepted way, by climbing in through the kitchen window, to find Muddy Waters' band sleeping on the kitchen floor.
Although Cyril Davies left the group in late-1962, Blues Incorporated continued to record, with Korner at the helm, until 1966. However, by that time its originally stellar line-up (and crowd of followers) had mostly left to start their own bands. "While his one-time acolytes the Rolling Stones and Cream made the front pages of music magazines all over the world, Korner was relegated to the role of 'elder statesman'."[6]
Although he himself was a blues purist, Korner criticised better-known British blues musicians during the blues boom of the late 1960s for their blind adherence to Chicago blues, as if the music came in no other form. He liked to surround himself with jazz musicians and often performed with a horn section drawn from a pool that included, among others, saxophone players Art Themen, Mel Collins, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Lol Coxhill,[11] Dick Morrissey, John Surman and trombonist Mike Zwerin.
Broadcasting
In the 1960s Korner began a media career, working initially as a show business interviewer and then on ITV's Five O'Clock Club, a children's TV show. Korner also wrote about blues for the music papers, and continued to maintain his own career as a blues artist, especially in Europe.
On 17 October 1967, Korner interviewed the Jimi Hendrix Experience for the BBC radio showTop Gear. Some of these tracks, including audio of Korner himself, appear on the Hendrix double-CD BBC Sessions, including Korner playing slide guitar on "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man".
While touring Scandinavia he first joined forces with guitarist and singer Peter Thorup, together forming the band New Church, who were one of the support bands at the Rolling Stones Free Concert in Hyde Park, London, on 5 July 1969. Jimmy Page reportedly found out about a new singer, Robert Plant, who had been jamming with Korner, who wondered why Plant had not yet been discovered. Plant and Korner were in the process of recording a full album with Plant on vocals until Page had asked him to join "the New Yardbirds", aka Led Zeppelin. Only two songs are in circulation from these recordings: "Steal Away" and "Operator".[10] Alexis Korner gave one of his last radio interviews to BBC Midlands on the Record Collectors Show with Mike Adams and the Late Chris Savory.
1970s
Korner and Peter Thorup in Bremen
In 1970 Korner and Thorup formed a big-band ensemble, C.C.S. – short for "The Collective Consciousness Society" – which had several hit singles produced by Mickie Most, including a version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", which was used as the theme for BBC's Top of the Pops between 1971 and 1981. Another instrumental called "Brother" was used as the theme to the BBC Radio 1 Top 20/40 when Tom Browne/Simon Bates presented the programme in the 1970s. It was also used in the 1990s on Radio Luxembourg for the Top 20 Singles chart and was hosted by Shaun Tilley. This was the period of Korner's greatest commercial success in the UK.[10]
1970s to 1984
Korner with Snape
In 1973, he formed another group, Snape, with Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, and Ian Wallace, who were previously together in King Crimson. Korner also played on B.B. King's In London album, and cut his own, similar "supersession" album; Get Off My Cloud, with Keith Richards, Peter Frampton, Nicky Hopkins and members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band. In the mid-1970s, while touring Germany, Korner established an intensive working relationship with bassist Colin Hodgkinson who played for the support act Back Door. They would continue to collaborate right up until Korner's death.[10]
In the 1970s Korner's main career was in broadcasting. In 1973 he presented a unique 6-part documentary on BBC Radio 1, The Rolling Stones Story,[3] and in 1977 he established a Sunday-night blues and soul show on Radio 1, Alexis Korner's Blues and Soul Show, which ran until 1981. He also used his gravelly voice to great effect as an advertising voice-over artist. In 1978, for Korner's 50th birthday, an all-star concert was held featuring many of his above-mentioned friends, as well as Eric Clapton, Paul Jones, Chris Farlowe, Zoot Money and others, which was later released as The Party Album, and as a video.
In 1981, Korner joined another "supergroup", Rocket 88, a project led by Ian Stewart based on boogie-woogie keyboard players, which featured a rhythm section comprising Jack Bruce and Charlie Watts, among others, as well as a horn section. They toured Europe and released an album on Atlantic Records. He played in Italy with Paul Jones and the Blues Society of Italian bluesman Guido Toffoletti.
Alexis Korner- Get Off My Cloud
Alexis Korner - How Long Blues & Hoochie Coochie Man
Alexis Korner - Stormy Monday Blues
ALEXIS KORNER - ALEXIS (1971)
SIDE A
00:00 Black Woman (The Wild Ox Moan)
01:45 Frankie Diamond
05:40 Clay House Inn
08:33 Stump Blues
12:18 You Can Make It Like You Want It To Be
15:25 Gold
SIDE B
18:40 Saturday Sun
22:53 I Don't Know
26:48 Am I My Brother's Keeper
29:28 Stop Playing Games
33:50 That's All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1QxoAVVI0k
Bee Houston *19.04.1938
Texas born, Los Angeles blues guitarist Bee Houston became known as Big Mama Thornton's guitarist during the waning years of her career. He was also a rough but wonderful, although largely unknown, singer. Unfortunately he died before the current rave for Blues got under way. This CD contains not only his entire Arhoolie LP issued in the 1970s, but also most of a second, earlier but unissued session. We have also included a previously un-released, improvised cut sung by Big Mama Thornton which belongs to Bee Houston because it shows him as the remarkably sensitive and soulful musician and person that he was.
http://www.arhoolie.com/blues/bee-houston-and-his-high-steppers-the-hustler.html
Guitarist/vocalist Edward Wilson "Bee" Houston's an exciting performer whose style blends elements of Texas shuffle blues and Southern gospel-tinged soul. Houston played in a high school drum and bugle corps as a youngster in San Antonio, and played in the backing bands of Little Willie John, Junior Parker, Bobby "Blue" Bland and others in the late '50s and early '60s. After a two-year army stint, Houston moved to the West Coast. He toured and recorded frequently with Big Mama Thornton in the '60s, and also accompanied several visiting blues players during West Coast visits. Houston recorded for Arhoolie in the '60s and '70s, and also made several festival appearances and club dates.
Peter Clayton *19.04.1898
Clayton ist wahrscheinlich 1898 in Georgia geboren, obwohl er selbst behauptete, mit seinen Eltern aus Afrika gekommen zu sein. In St. Louis heiratete Clayton und hatte vier Kinder. 1937 kam seine komplette Familie bei einem Brand ums Leben. Danach verfiel er dem Alkohol und führte ein unstetes Leben. Mit Robert Lockwood ging er nach Chicago, um dort Musik zu machen.
Die ersten Aufnahmen von Doctor Clayton stammen aus dem Jahr 1935. Er trat ausschließlich als Sänger auf und schrieb erfolgreich Songs. Zu seine bekanntesten Stücken zählen 41 Blues, Pearl Harbor Blues, Cheating And Lying Blues, Hold That Train Conductor, Gotta Find My Baby, Root Doctor, Angels in Harlem, On The Killing Floor und I Need My Baby. Einige der Stücke Claytons wurden später von B.B. King neu eingespielt.
Doctor Clayton starb 1947 an den Folgen einer Lungenentzündung. Big Bill Broonzy berichtete, dass bei der Beerdigung nur 10 Leute anwesend waren, darunter er selbst und Tampa Red.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Clayton
Doctor Clayton (April 19, 1898 - January 7, 1947) was an American blues singer and songwriter.
Biography
Peter Joe Clayton was born in Georgia, though he later claimed he had been born in Africa, and moved to St. Louis as a child with his family. He had four children and worked in a factory in St. Louis, where he started his career as a singer (he could also play piano and ukelele, though he never did so on record). Clayton recorded six sides for Bluebird Records in 1935, but only two were ever issued. Clayton's entire family died in a house fire in 1937; following this Clayton became an alcoholic and began wearing outsized hats and glasses. Moving to Chicago with Robert Lockwood, he received attention from Decca Records but ultimately returned to Bluebird, recording with them again in 1941-42. He also recorded for Okeh Records at this time.
Among the songs he wrote were "Cheating and Lying Blues", frequently covered by other blues artists; "Pearl Harbor Blues", written after the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941; and "Moonshine Woman Blues", which became a chart hit for B. B. King under the name "The Woman I Love" in 1968. He recorded again in 1946, recording the tunes "Hold That Train, Conductor" and "I Need My Baby" which were also both covered by King.[1] Most of his later recordings featured Blind John Davis on piano.[1] He was a regional sales success and played regularly in Chicago nightclubs with Lockwood and Sunnyland Slim.
Clayton died of tuberculosis in January 1947, in Chicago, shortly after his second recording session. Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red attended his funeral.
Document Records has released all of Clayton's output recorded between 1935 and 1942 on one CD; Old Tramp Records released the remaining 1946 recordings.
Biography
Peter Joe Clayton was born in Georgia, though he later claimed he had been born in Africa, and moved to St. Louis as a child with his family. He had four children and worked in a factory in St. Louis, where he started his career as a singer (he could also play piano and ukelele, though he never did so on record). Clayton recorded six sides for Bluebird Records in 1935, but only two were ever issued. Clayton's entire family died in a house fire in 1937; following this Clayton became an alcoholic and began wearing outsized hats and glasses. Moving to Chicago with Robert Lockwood, he received attention from Decca Records but ultimately returned to Bluebird, recording with them again in 1941-42. He also recorded for Okeh Records at this time.
Among the songs he wrote were "Cheating and Lying Blues", frequently covered by other blues artists; "Pearl Harbor Blues", written after the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941; and "Moonshine Woman Blues", which became a chart hit for B. B. King under the name "The Woman I Love" in 1968. He recorded again in 1946, recording the tunes "Hold That Train, Conductor" and "I Need My Baby" which were also both covered by King.[1] Most of his later recordings featured Blind John Davis on piano.[1] He was a regional sales success and played regularly in Chicago nightclubs with Lockwood and Sunnyland Slim.
Clayton died of tuberculosis in January 1947, in Chicago, shortly after his second recording session. Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red attended his funeral.
Document Records has released all of Clayton's output recorded between 1935 and 1942 on one CD; Old Tramp Records released the remaining 1946 recordings.
Demi Evans Trouble in mind acoustic.flv
Tom Vieth *19.04.1960
„Seit Jahrzehnten ist er Urgestein der deutschen Blues-Szene: Tom Vieth.
Der Münsterländer, der Chicago mit Recht seine zweite Heimat nennt, ist einer der wenigen, dem es gelungen ist einen eigenen, unverwechselbaren Stil zu entwickeln. Während sich andere immer noch nach B.B. King, oder Stevie Ray Vaughan anhören, oder einfach nur Freddie King imitieren, klingt Tom immer wie Tom Vieth - unverwechselbar, einmalig.
Kein Wunder also, dass Tom bis heute mit vielen Größen des Blues die Bühne teilte: u.a. mit Johnny Heartsman, Eddie C. Campbell, John Primer, Eddie Shaw, Rockin’ Johnny, Eddie Taylor Jr., Jeannie Carroll und Sunnyland Slim.
Tom Vieth besitzt eben dieses "magische Moment". Ein Bluesfeeling, das bei dem Hörer augenblicklich eine Gänsehaut erzeugt. Spannungsvoll gesetzte Töne, ein ungekünstelter, unangestrengter Gesang, und ein Programm mit wundervoll klassisch klingenden Eigenkompositionen im besten Chicago-Blues.
Tom ist eines der auch international anerkannten Blues-Originale, die die deutsche Szene hervorgebracht hat.“
German Blues Challenge / Awards Tom Vieth Bluesband Eutin 04.07.2015
R.I.P.
Larry Davis +19.04.1994
Larry Davis (December 4, 1936 – April 19, 1994)[1] was an American electric Texas blues and soul blues musician. He is best known for co-composing the song "Texas Flood", later recorded to greater commercial success by Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Davis swapped playing the drums to learn to play the bass guitar. In the mid-1950s, Davis had a working partnership with Fenton Robinson, and following the recommendation of Bobby Bland was given a recording contract by the Duke label. Davis had three singles released, which included "Texas Flood" and "Angels in Houston". Thereafter, Davis had limited opportunity in the recording studio. He resided in St. Louis, Missouri for a while, and played bass in Albert King's group.[2] He also learned conventional guitar at this time, as the original guitar playing on Davis's recording of "Texas Flood" was by Robinson.[3]Several single releases on the Virgo and Kent labels followed, but in 1972 a motorcycle accident temporarily paralyzed Davis' left side.[2] He returned a decade later with an album released by Rooster Blues, Funny Stuff, which was produced by Oliver Sain.[3] He won four W.C. Handy Awards in 1982, yet a decade on he was known only to blues specialists.[3] His 1987 Pulsar LP, I Ain't Beggin' Nobody, proved difficult even for blues enthusiasts to locate.[2]
In 1992, Bullseye Blues issued another Davis offering, Sooner or Later, that highlighted his booming vocals and Albert King influenced guitar work. Davis died of cancer in April 1994, at the age of 57.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Davis_%28blues_musician%29
Larry Davis - 102nd St Blues.wmv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NLaPTIaA0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NLaPTIaA0
Willie Mabon +19.04.1985
Willie Mabon (* 24. Oktober 1925 in Hollywood, Tennessee; † 19. April 1985 in Paris, Frankreich) war ein US-amerikanischer R&B-Sänger, Songwriter und Pianist.
Aufgewachsen in Memphis, Tennessee, kam Mabon 1942 als bereits versierter Blueser nach Chicago. Er gründete die Band "The Blues Rockers" und machte ab 1949 Aufnahmen für verschiedene Plattenlabel. Nach seinem Riesenhit I Don't Know folgten 1953 I'm Mad und 1954 Poison Ivy. Danach ließ der Erfolg nach.
1972 zog Mabel nach Paris. Er tourte recht erfolgreich in Europa und machte weiterhin Aufnahmen bis zu seinem Tod 1985.
Der größte Erfolg für Willie Mabon war das Stück I Don't Know, das 1952 für acht Wochen die Spitzenposition der R&B-Charts belegte und später von Tennessee Ernie Ford neu eingespielt wurde.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Mabon
Willie Mabon - I DON'T KNOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5j8XjUC40
Mark Lavon „Levon“ Helm (* 26. Mai 1940 in Marvell, Arkansas; † 19. April 2012 in New York City[1]) war ein US-amerikanischer Musiker. Er spielte ab 1958 bei dem Rockabilly-Sänger Ronnie Hawkins, später war er Gründungsmitglied von The Band. Levon Helms Hauptinstrument war das Schlagzeug, er spielte aber auch Gitarre und Mandoline. Sein Gesang verlieh vielen Klassikern von The Band eine unverwechselbare Stimme.
Levon Helm war ein Sohn des amerikanischen Südens; er wuchs auf einer Farm im Mississippi Delta auf und wurde ab seiner Kindheit mit der reichen Musiktradition dieser Region enkulturiert. Im Gegensatz zu vielen Rockmusikern seiner Zeit waren die Stilrichtungen Country, Blues, Gospel und Folk für ihn keine Sehnsuchtsmotive, sondern ein Teil seiner frühen Sozialisation.[2] Nachdem er Elvis Presley gesehen hatte, wollte Levon Helm selbst Rock ’n’ Roll spielen. Zu seinen Vorbildern gehörten auch Bo Diddley und Peck Curtis, Schlagzeuger bei Sonny Boy Williamson II. and The King Biscuit Boys. Nach seinem Umzug nach Memphis wurde der 17-jährige Levon Helm im Jahre 1957 von Ronnie Hawkins entdeckt und unter seine Fittiche genommen. Helm spielte bei den Aufnahmen der Hawkins-Hits Mary Lou und Forty Days Schlagzeug. Obwohl er die Schule noch nicht abgeschlossen hatte, folgte er Hawkins 1958 nach Toronto. 1963 verließ er gemeinsam mit seinen kanadischen Mitmusikern Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel und Robbie Robertson Ronnie Hawkins, um zuerst als Levon and the Hawks und später als The Band in die Geschichte der Rockmusik einzugehen.
Bob Dylan heuerte Mitte des Jahres 1965 "The Hawks" als Begleitband an, nachdem er kurz zuvor den Gitarristen Robbie Robertson und Levon Helm kennengelernt hatte. Zermürbt von den Anfeindungen vieler Dylan-Fans - die dessen neue, elektrisch verstärkte Musik als Verrat an den Folkidealen betrachteten - verließ Levon Helm jedoch kurz darauf Bob Dylan.[3] Er kehrte nach Arkansas zurück und wollte das Musikbusiness endgültig hinter sich lassen. Mitte 1967 holten ihn jedoch Dylan und seine Band, die sich nun "The Band" nannte, wegen der Aufnahmen für die Basement Tapes zurück. Sie benötigten Helms Stimme und seine Perkussion. Nach den Basement Tapes trennte sich The Band von Dylan und nahm ihr erstes Studioalbum Music from Big Pink auf. Stücke wie The Weight und The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, bei denen Helm die Lead-Stimme sang, wurden zu den bekanntesten Titeln von The Band. Nach ihrem letzten Studioalbum Islands und ihrem Abschiedskonzert The Last Waltz im Jahre 1976 löste sich die Gruppe auf. Um Levon Helm blieb es nicht lange ruhig. Bereits 1977 nahm er sein erstes Solo-Album, Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, auf, gefolgt von Levon Helm 1978. 1980 und 1982 folgten zwei weitere Solo-Alben und eine Reunion von The Band mit Jim Weider, der Robbie Robertson ersetzte. 1993 gründete er sein eigenes Plattenstudio in Woodstock und es erschien seine Autobiografie This Wheel’s On Fire.
Ende der 1990er Jahre wurde bei Levon Helm Kehlkopfkrebs diagnostiziert. Er unterzog sich einer langwierigen Radiotherapie. Wie durch ein Wunder kehrte seine verloren geglaubte Gesundheit und seine Tenor-Stimme soweit zurück, dass er mit der gesanglichen Unterstützung seiner Tochter Amy, des Multiinstrumentalisten und Produzenten Larry Campbell und dessen Frau Teresa Williams 2002 eine Konzertreihe starten konnte. Diese Konzerte fanden zunächst unter dem Namen „Midnight Ramble“ mit einer Reihe von illustren Gästen (u. a. Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, Jon Herrington, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Kris Kristofferson) regelmäßig in seiner Scheune bei Woodstock (New York) statt. Mit den Einnahmen konnte Levon Helm seine hohen Behandlungskosten begleichen. Mit der Kernbesetzung der wöchentlichen "Midnight Rambles" veröffentlichte Levon Helm drei Alben: "Dirt Farmer" (2007), "Electric Dirt" (2009) und das Live-Album "Ramble at the Ryman" (2011). Alle drei Alben gewannen einen Grammy.[4]
Helm hatte 2005 in dem Film Three Burials – Die drei Begräbnisse des Melquiades Estrada eine Rolle als alter blinder Mann, der nur mexikanisches Radio hört. Später folgten weitere Rollen in größeren Hollywoodproduktionen, wie Shooter (2007) und In the Electric Mist (2008).
Bei den Grammy Awards 2008 erhielt Helm die Auszeichnung in der Kategorie das „Bestes traditionelles Folkalbum“ für Dirt Farmer. Im Februar 2009 wurde Levon Helm auf Platz 91 der „100 größten Sänger aller Zeiten“ des Rolling Stone gewählt, My-Morning-Jacket-Sänger Jim James schrieb in seiner Würdigung über Helm: „Nachdem Papa Garth Hudson ja nicht wirklich sang, empfand ich immer Levon als die gesangliche Vaterfigur in The Band. Er wirkt stark und selbstbewusst, eben wie ein Vater, der einen nach Hause ruft oder auch mal ausschimpft. … Levons Stimme, die ist wie ein robustes altes Bauernhaus.“[5] Der Song Levon auf dem Album Madman Across the Water (1971) von Elton John ist nach Levon Helm benannt.
Am 19. April 2012 verstarb Levon Helm im Alter von 71 Jahren infolge seiner Krebserkrankung.
Willie Mabon (October 24, 1925 – April 19, 1985)[1] was an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist.
Career
Born Willie James Mabon,[2] and brought up in Hollywood, Memphis, Tennessee, he had become known as a singer and pianist by the time he moved to Chicago in 1942. He formed a group, the Blues Rockers, and in 1949 began recording for the Aristocrat label, and then Chess.
His biggest success came in 1952 when his debut solo release, "I Don't Know", originally written by Cripple Clarance Lofton, who received no royalties,[3] topped the Billboard R&B chart for eight weeks.[3] It was one of the most popular releases of its era, becoming Chess's biggest hit in the period before Chuck Berry's and Bo Diddley's success. It also became one of the first R&B hit records to be covered by a leading white artist, Tennessee Ernie Ford. Mabon's original was played on Alan Freed's early radio shows and also sold well to white audiences, crossing over markets at the start of the rock and roll era.
Mabon returned to the top R&B slot in 1953 with "I'm Mad", and had another hit in 1954 with the Mel London song "Poison Ivy". However, his career failed to maintain its momentum, and record releases in the late 1950s on a variety of record labels were largely unsuccessful. Releases in the 1960s included "I'm The Fixer" and "Got To Have Some".[3]
After a 1972 move to Paris, Mabon toured and recorded in Europe as part of promoter Jim Simpson's American Blues Legends tour, recording The Comeback for Simpson's Big Bear Records label, and his 1977 album on Ornament Records.[4] He also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.[1] In April 1985, after a long illness, Mabon died in Paris.[5]
Legacy
"I Don't Know" was covered by The Blues Brothers in 1978, earlier by Freddie King in 1970.
His song "Just Got Some" was covered by Rod Stewart.
His song "I'm Mad" is featured in the Marv Newland 1980 animated short film, Sing Beast
Sing.
"Seventh Son", first recorded by Mabon in 1955, has since been covered by a number of
artists including Johnny Rivers, Georgie Fame, John Mellencamp, Billy "Crash" Craddock,
Mose Allison, Sting, Climax Blues Band, and Long John Baldry.
Career
Born Willie James Mabon,[2] and brought up in Hollywood, Memphis, Tennessee, he had become known as a singer and pianist by the time he moved to Chicago in 1942. He formed a group, the Blues Rockers, and in 1949 began recording for the Aristocrat label, and then Chess.
His biggest success came in 1952 when his debut solo release, "I Don't Know", originally written by Cripple Clarance Lofton, who received no royalties,[3] topped the Billboard R&B chart for eight weeks.[3] It was one of the most popular releases of its era, becoming Chess's biggest hit in the period before Chuck Berry's and Bo Diddley's success. It also became one of the first R&B hit records to be covered by a leading white artist, Tennessee Ernie Ford. Mabon's original was played on Alan Freed's early radio shows and also sold well to white audiences, crossing over markets at the start of the rock and roll era.
Mabon returned to the top R&B slot in 1953 with "I'm Mad", and had another hit in 1954 with the Mel London song "Poison Ivy". However, his career failed to maintain its momentum, and record releases in the late 1950s on a variety of record labels were largely unsuccessful. Releases in the 1960s included "I'm The Fixer" and "Got To Have Some".[3]
After a 1972 move to Paris, Mabon toured and recorded in Europe as part of promoter Jim Simpson's American Blues Legends tour, recording The Comeback for Simpson's Big Bear Records label, and his 1977 album on Ornament Records.[4] He also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.[1] In April 1985, after a long illness, Mabon died in Paris.[5]
Legacy
"I Don't Know" was covered by The Blues Brothers in 1978, earlier by Freddie King in 1970.
His song "Just Got Some" was covered by Rod Stewart.
His song "I'm Mad" is featured in the Marv Newland 1980 animated short film, Sing Beast
Sing.
"Seventh Son", first recorded by Mabon in 1955, has since been covered by a number of
artists including Johnny Rivers, Georgie Fame, John Mellencamp, Billy "Crash" Craddock,
Mose Allison, Sting, Climax Blues Band, and Long John Baldry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5j8XjUC40
Levon Helm +19.04.2012
Mark Lavon „Levon“ Helm (* 26. Mai 1940 in Marvell, Arkansas; † 19. April 2012 in New York City[1]) war ein US-amerikanischer Musiker. Er spielte ab 1958 bei dem Rockabilly-Sänger Ronnie Hawkins, später war er Gründungsmitglied von The Band. Levon Helms Hauptinstrument war das Schlagzeug, er spielte aber auch Gitarre und Mandoline. Sein Gesang verlieh vielen Klassikern von The Band eine unverwechselbare Stimme.Levon Helm war ein Sohn des amerikanischen Südens; er wuchs auf einer Farm im Mississippi Delta auf und wurde ab seiner Kindheit mit der reichen Musiktradition dieser Region enkulturiert. Im Gegensatz zu vielen Rockmusikern seiner Zeit waren die Stilrichtungen Country, Blues, Gospel und Folk für ihn keine Sehnsuchtsmotive, sondern ein Teil seiner frühen Sozialisation.[2] Nachdem er Elvis Presley gesehen hatte, wollte Levon Helm selbst Rock ’n’ Roll spielen. Zu seinen Vorbildern gehörten auch Bo Diddley und Peck Curtis, Schlagzeuger bei Sonny Boy Williamson II. and The King Biscuit Boys. Nach seinem Umzug nach Memphis wurde der 17-jährige Levon Helm im Jahre 1957 von Ronnie Hawkins entdeckt und unter seine Fittiche genommen. Helm spielte bei den Aufnahmen der Hawkins-Hits Mary Lou und Forty Days Schlagzeug. Obwohl er die Schule noch nicht abgeschlossen hatte, folgte er Hawkins 1958 nach Toronto. 1963 verließ er gemeinsam mit seinen kanadischen Mitmusikern Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel und Robbie Robertson Ronnie Hawkins, um zuerst als Levon and the Hawks und später als The Band in die Geschichte der Rockmusik einzugehen.
Bob Dylan heuerte Mitte des Jahres 1965 "The Hawks" als Begleitband an, nachdem er kurz zuvor den Gitarristen Robbie Robertson und Levon Helm kennengelernt hatte. Zermürbt von den Anfeindungen vieler Dylan-Fans - die dessen neue, elektrisch verstärkte Musik als Verrat an den Folkidealen betrachteten - verließ Levon Helm jedoch kurz darauf Bob Dylan.[3] Er kehrte nach Arkansas zurück und wollte das Musikbusiness endgültig hinter sich lassen. Mitte 1967 holten ihn jedoch Dylan und seine Band, die sich nun "The Band" nannte, wegen der Aufnahmen für die Basement Tapes zurück. Sie benötigten Helms Stimme und seine Perkussion. Nach den Basement Tapes trennte sich The Band von Dylan und nahm ihr erstes Studioalbum Music from Big Pink auf. Stücke wie The Weight und The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, bei denen Helm die Lead-Stimme sang, wurden zu den bekanntesten Titeln von The Band. Nach ihrem letzten Studioalbum Islands und ihrem Abschiedskonzert The Last Waltz im Jahre 1976 löste sich die Gruppe auf. Um Levon Helm blieb es nicht lange ruhig. Bereits 1977 nahm er sein erstes Solo-Album, Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, auf, gefolgt von Levon Helm 1978. 1980 und 1982 folgten zwei weitere Solo-Alben und eine Reunion von The Band mit Jim Weider, der Robbie Robertson ersetzte. 1993 gründete er sein eigenes Plattenstudio in Woodstock und es erschien seine Autobiografie This Wheel’s On Fire.
Ende der 1990er Jahre wurde bei Levon Helm Kehlkopfkrebs diagnostiziert. Er unterzog sich einer langwierigen Radiotherapie. Wie durch ein Wunder kehrte seine verloren geglaubte Gesundheit und seine Tenor-Stimme soweit zurück, dass er mit der gesanglichen Unterstützung seiner Tochter Amy, des Multiinstrumentalisten und Produzenten Larry Campbell und dessen Frau Teresa Williams 2002 eine Konzertreihe starten konnte. Diese Konzerte fanden zunächst unter dem Namen „Midnight Ramble“ mit einer Reihe von illustren Gästen (u. a. Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, Jon Herrington, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Kris Kristofferson) regelmäßig in seiner Scheune bei Woodstock (New York) statt. Mit den Einnahmen konnte Levon Helm seine hohen Behandlungskosten begleichen. Mit der Kernbesetzung der wöchentlichen "Midnight Rambles" veröffentlichte Levon Helm drei Alben: "Dirt Farmer" (2007), "Electric Dirt" (2009) und das Live-Album "Ramble at the Ryman" (2011). Alle drei Alben gewannen einen Grammy.[4]
Helm hatte 2005 in dem Film Three Burials – Die drei Begräbnisse des Melquiades Estrada eine Rolle als alter blinder Mann, der nur mexikanisches Radio hört. Später folgten weitere Rollen in größeren Hollywoodproduktionen, wie Shooter (2007) und In the Electric Mist (2008).
Bei den Grammy Awards 2008 erhielt Helm die Auszeichnung in der Kategorie das „Bestes traditionelles Folkalbum“ für Dirt Farmer. Im Februar 2009 wurde Levon Helm auf Platz 91 der „100 größten Sänger aller Zeiten“ des Rolling Stone gewählt, My-Morning-Jacket-Sänger Jim James schrieb in seiner Würdigung über Helm: „Nachdem Papa Garth Hudson ja nicht wirklich sang, empfand ich immer Levon als die gesangliche Vaterfigur in The Band. Er wirkt stark und selbstbewusst, eben wie ein Vater, der einen nach Hause ruft oder auch mal ausschimpft. … Levons Stimme, die ist wie ein robustes altes Bauernhaus.“[5] Der Song Levon auf dem Album Madman Across the Water (1971) von Elton John ist nach Levon Helm benannt.
Am 19. April 2012 verstarb Levon Helm im Alter von 71 Jahren infolge seiner Krebserkrankung.
"Woodstock" - einer der mythischen Orte der Musikgeschichte. Klar doch "Three Days of Peace and Music", Jimmy Hendrix macht klar, dass amerikanische Ideale und Krieg schlecht zusammenpassen, Santana und Joe Cocker sind plötzlich weltweite Stars. Janis Joplin war betrunken. Und auch The Band trat auf. Doch das geriet in Vergessenheit, da sie aus Gründen des Lizenzrechts nicht im Film und auf den ursprünglichen Soundtrackalben des Festivals vertreten waren. Aber das ist nicht wirklich Woodstock.Das ist hundert Kilometer entfernt von der Stadt im Bundeststaat New York.
Levon Helm - Biografie
Woodstock, der Ort mit dem Keller, wo Bob Dylan gemeinsam mit The Band sich selbst und die amerikanische Rockmusik neu definierte. Und gleichzeitig fand dabei The Band zu ihrem Sound und ihren Songs, die dann auf dem Debüt "Music from Big Pink" und "The Band" für weltweite Begeisterung sorgten. Das ist Woodstock, ebenso auch wie die legendären Sessions, die Levon Helm Jahre nach dem Ende der Band in seiner Scheune veranstaltete. Und Plattenaufnahmen wie seinerzeit mit Muddy Waters oder später mit allen möglichen anderen Musikern.
Es braucht nur die ersten Töne von "Ophelia", dem Opener des 2011 erschienenen Live-Albums "Ramble At Ryman", um einen sofort wieder in der frühen 70er Jahre zu schicken: Es ist nicht nur der Song von The Band. Es ist vor allem noch immer diese Stimme von Levon Helm, die die Zeiten überdauert hat. Es ist dieser Groove irgendwo aus den Grenzlanden von Stax und Woodstock, der so ganz anders ist, als die meisten heute mit mehr Kraft als Feeling und Stil dahin getrommelten Rhythmen. Und es ist eine Feier der verschiedensten Musikstile Amerikas zwischen Jazz, Soul, Country und Rock.
Und genau dieser Musik ist Levon Helm immer treu geblieben, was ihn zu einem der wichtigsten Musiker für die Americana-Szene der letzten Jahre gemacht hat. Nein, Levon Helm mag nicht als der große Songschreiber in die Geschichte eingehen - schon bei The Band waren Robertson und Manuel stärker. Doch er war definitiv das Herz und die Seele der Band. Und hier - 2008 aufgenommen - brachte er das nochmals auf den sprichwörtlichen Punkt.
Geboren wurde Helm am 26. Mai 1940 in Arkansas. Als Teenager sah er Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Johnny Cash und Jerry Lee Lewis im Konzert. Nachdem er Lewis und vor allem seinen Schlagzeuger gesehen hatte, wollte er selbst Drummer werden. Daneben spielte er aber auch noch Mandoline und andere Saiteninstrumente. 1960 trat er der Band von Rockabilly-Star Ronnie Hawkins bei. Später sollten zu der Gruppe auch noch Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko und Garth Hudson beitreten. Und damit war The Band eigentlich schon hier entstanden.
Die Musiker trennten sich von Hawkins, um ihre eigene Musik zu machen. Mal nannten sie sich The Crackers, mal Levon and the Hawks. Aber erst als sie mit Dylan zusammenkamen, wuchs ihr Ansehen. Dylan hatte sie irgendwo im Konzert gesehen und spontan Helm und Gitarrist Robertson eingeladen, seiner elektrischen Rockband beizutreten. Dabei kannten sie zu den Zeitpunkt Dylan noch gar nicht. Helm und Robertson spielten zeitweise bei Dylan mit. Und einige andere der Band tauchten auch bei den Aufnahmen von „Blonde on Blonde“ auf.
Nachdem sich Dylan 1966 von seinem Motorradunfall erholte, tat er sich wieder mit der Gruppe zusammen, aus der bald The Band werden sollte. Noch bevor Helm einstieg, nahmen sie die berühmten „Basement Tapes“ auf. Und darauf wurde klar, wie The Band ihren ganz eigenen Sound der amerikanischen Rootsmusik fanden. Schnell unterschrieb man bei Capitol Records und veröffentlichte 1968 und 1969 zwei Alben, die heute echte Klassiker sind: Music from Big Pink und The Band. Zwar war Robertson der wichtigste Songschreiber der Gruppe, doch Helms Stimme brachte dessen Lieder eigentlich zum Leben.
Als 1976 auf Druck von Robertson The Band ihr letztes Konzert gab und sich danach auflöste, war Helm gar nicht glücklich darüber. Helm gründete seine eigene Band, Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, zu denen auch Dr. John, Steve Cropper und Booker T Jones gehörten, und nahm einige Soloalben auf. Doch The Band hing ihm immer nach – in den 80er Jahren gründete er mit Danko, Manuel und Hudson eine neue Version und spielte drei neue Studioalben ein. Doch letztlich war dieser Neuanfang spätestens mit Dankos Tod im Jahre 1999 beendet. Zu dem Zeitpunkt kämpfte Helm schon mit Kehlkopfkrebs. Nach seiner Wiederherstellung begann er, kleine Konzerte in seiner Scheune/Studio zu veranstalten, die er Midnight Rambler nannte. Die Einnahmen sollten vor allem dazu dienen, seine Arztrechnungen zu begleichen. Doch schließlich wurden sie zu einem Ereignis, bei dem man irgendwann dabei sein musste. Elvis Costello trat dort ebenso auf wie Donald Fagen oder Mitglieder von Grateful Dad.
Aus den Konzerten erwuchsen schließlich Alben wie "Dirt Farmer" oder "Electric Dirt", die genau das auf den Punkt brachten, wofür The Band damals bekannt und beliebt waren. Es sind Lieder über das Amerika der Gegenwart fern der glitzernden Metropolen, immer auch Ausflüge in die mythisch-dunkle Geschichte der Staaten. Es sind Songs - traditionelle und neuere - vor allem aus dem Süden, wo Levon Helm trotz des Umzugs nach Woodstock immer verwurzelt blieb. Manche Kritiker mögen ihm vorgeworfen haben, dass er sich damit an den von Cash und anderen gestarteten Trend angehängt hat, sich im Alter wieder auf seine musikalischen Wurzeln zu besinnen. Doch wenn man hört, mit welcher Leidenschaft er sich durch die Lieder trommelt und singt, dann wird klar, dass er genau das gebraucht hat. Nicht nur, um den jahrelangen Kampf gegen den Krebs für sich abzuschließen, der ihn fast der Stimme beraubt hätte. Nein - Electric Dirt und Dirt Farmer sind Dokumente einer glücklichen Heimkehr.
Als 2012 die Todesnachricht durchs Internet ihre Kreise zog, da war überall der Schmerz zu spüren in den Kommentaren: Hier ist wirklich nicht nur ein Musiker gestorben. Sondern ein Mensch, der der Musik Herz und Seele geben konnte.
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012)[1] was an American rock and Americana musician and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and regular lead vocalist for the Band. 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 the Coal Miner's Daughter, as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff, and as an iconic, Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter.
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 the list of The 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] On April 17, 2012, his wife and daughter announced on Helm's website that he was "in the final stages of his battle with cancer" and thanked fans while requesting prayers. Two days later, Helm died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.[1]
Levon Helm - Biografie
Woodstock, der Ort mit dem Keller, wo Bob Dylan gemeinsam mit The Band sich selbst und die amerikanische Rockmusik neu definierte. Und gleichzeitig fand dabei The Band zu ihrem Sound und ihren Songs, die dann auf dem Debüt "Music from Big Pink" und "The Band" für weltweite Begeisterung sorgten. Das ist Woodstock, ebenso auch wie die legendären Sessions, die Levon Helm Jahre nach dem Ende der Band in seiner Scheune veranstaltete. Und Plattenaufnahmen wie seinerzeit mit Muddy Waters oder später mit allen möglichen anderen Musikern.
Es braucht nur die ersten Töne von "Ophelia", dem Opener des 2011 erschienenen Live-Albums "Ramble At Ryman", um einen sofort wieder in der frühen 70er Jahre zu schicken: Es ist nicht nur der Song von The Band. Es ist vor allem noch immer diese Stimme von Levon Helm, die die Zeiten überdauert hat. Es ist dieser Groove irgendwo aus den Grenzlanden von Stax und Woodstock, der so ganz anders ist, als die meisten heute mit mehr Kraft als Feeling und Stil dahin getrommelten Rhythmen. Und es ist eine Feier der verschiedensten Musikstile Amerikas zwischen Jazz, Soul, Country und Rock.
Und genau dieser Musik ist Levon Helm immer treu geblieben, was ihn zu einem der wichtigsten Musiker für die Americana-Szene der letzten Jahre gemacht hat. Nein, Levon Helm mag nicht als der große Songschreiber in die Geschichte eingehen - schon bei The Band waren Robertson und Manuel stärker. Doch er war definitiv das Herz und die Seele der Band. Und hier - 2008 aufgenommen - brachte er das nochmals auf den sprichwörtlichen Punkt.
Geboren wurde Helm am 26. Mai 1940 in Arkansas. Als Teenager sah er Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Johnny Cash und Jerry Lee Lewis im Konzert. Nachdem er Lewis und vor allem seinen Schlagzeuger gesehen hatte, wollte er selbst Drummer werden. Daneben spielte er aber auch noch Mandoline und andere Saiteninstrumente. 1960 trat er der Band von Rockabilly-Star Ronnie Hawkins bei. Später sollten zu der Gruppe auch noch Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko und Garth Hudson beitreten. Und damit war The Band eigentlich schon hier entstanden.
Die Musiker trennten sich von Hawkins, um ihre eigene Musik zu machen. Mal nannten sie sich The Crackers, mal Levon and the Hawks. Aber erst als sie mit Dylan zusammenkamen, wuchs ihr Ansehen. Dylan hatte sie irgendwo im Konzert gesehen und spontan Helm und Gitarrist Robertson eingeladen, seiner elektrischen Rockband beizutreten. Dabei kannten sie zu den Zeitpunkt Dylan noch gar nicht. Helm und Robertson spielten zeitweise bei Dylan mit. Und einige andere der Band tauchten auch bei den Aufnahmen von „Blonde on Blonde“ auf.
Nachdem sich Dylan 1966 von seinem Motorradunfall erholte, tat er sich wieder mit der Gruppe zusammen, aus der bald The Band werden sollte. Noch bevor Helm einstieg, nahmen sie die berühmten „Basement Tapes“ auf. Und darauf wurde klar, wie The Band ihren ganz eigenen Sound der amerikanischen Rootsmusik fanden. Schnell unterschrieb man bei Capitol Records und veröffentlichte 1968 und 1969 zwei Alben, die heute echte Klassiker sind: Music from Big Pink und The Band. Zwar war Robertson der wichtigste Songschreiber der Gruppe, doch Helms Stimme brachte dessen Lieder eigentlich zum Leben.
Als 1976 auf Druck von Robertson The Band ihr letztes Konzert gab und sich danach auflöste, war Helm gar nicht glücklich darüber. Helm gründete seine eigene Band, Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, zu denen auch Dr. John, Steve Cropper und Booker T Jones gehörten, und nahm einige Soloalben auf. Doch The Band hing ihm immer nach – in den 80er Jahren gründete er mit Danko, Manuel und Hudson eine neue Version und spielte drei neue Studioalben ein. Doch letztlich war dieser Neuanfang spätestens mit Dankos Tod im Jahre 1999 beendet. Zu dem Zeitpunkt kämpfte Helm schon mit Kehlkopfkrebs. Nach seiner Wiederherstellung begann er, kleine Konzerte in seiner Scheune/Studio zu veranstalten, die er Midnight Rambler nannte. Die Einnahmen sollten vor allem dazu dienen, seine Arztrechnungen zu begleichen. Doch schließlich wurden sie zu einem Ereignis, bei dem man irgendwann dabei sein musste. Elvis Costello trat dort ebenso auf wie Donald Fagen oder Mitglieder von Grateful Dad.
Aus den Konzerten erwuchsen schließlich Alben wie "Dirt Farmer" oder "Electric Dirt", die genau das auf den Punkt brachten, wofür The Band damals bekannt und beliebt waren. Es sind Lieder über das Amerika der Gegenwart fern der glitzernden Metropolen, immer auch Ausflüge in die mythisch-dunkle Geschichte der Staaten. Es sind Songs - traditionelle und neuere - vor allem aus dem Süden, wo Levon Helm trotz des Umzugs nach Woodstock immer verwurzelt blieb. Manche Kritiker mögen ihm vorgeworfen haben, dass er sich damit an den von Cash und anderen gestarteten Trend angehängt hat, sich im Alter wieder auf seine musikalischen Wurzeln zu besinnen. Doch wenn man hört, mit welcher Leidenschaft er sich durch die Lieder trommelt und singt, dann wird klar, dass er genau das gebraucht hat. Nicht nur, um den jahrelangen Kampf gegen den Krebs für sich abzuschließen, der ihn fast der Stimme beraubt hätte. Nein - Electric Dirt und Dirt Farmer sind Dokumente einer glücklichen Heimkehr.
Als 2012 die Todesnachricht durchs Internet ihre Kreise zog, da war überall der Schmerz zu spüren in den Kommentaren: Hier ist wirklich nicht nur ein Musiker gestorben. Sondern ein Mensch, der der Musik Herz und Seele geben konnte.
#Bluespfaffe#
http://wasser-prawda.eu/levon-helm-biografie
http://wasser-prawda.eu/levon-helm-biografie
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012)[1] was an American rock and Americana musician and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and regular lead vocalist for the Band. 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 the Coal Miner's Daughter, as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff, and as an iconic, Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter.
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 the list of The 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] On April 17, 2012, his wife and daughter announced on Helm's website that he was "in the final stages of his battle with cancer" and thanked fans while requesting prayers. Two days later, Helm died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.[1]
Biography
Early years
Born in Elaine, Arkansas,[5] Helm grew up in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas. His parents, Nell and Diamond Helm, cotton farmers and also great lovers of music, encouraged their children to play and sing. Young Lavon (as he was christened) began playing the guitar at the age of eight and also played drums during his formative years. He saw Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys at the age of six and decided then to become a musician.
Arkansas in the 1940s and 50s stood at the confluence of a variety of musical styles—blues, country and R&B—that later became known as rock and roll. Listening to all these styles on the Grand Ole Opry show on radio station WSM and R&B on radio station WLAC out of Nashville, Tennessee influenced Helm. He also saw traveling shows such as F.S. Walcott's Rabbit's Foot Minstrels that featured top African-American artists of the time.
Another early influence on Helm was the work of harmonica, guitarist and singer Sonny Boy Williamson II, who played blues and early rhythm and blues on the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena and performed regularly in Marvell with blues guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. In his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire – Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, Helm describes watching Williamson's drummer, James "Peck" Curtis, intently during a live performance in the early 1950s and later imitating this R&B drumming style. Helm established his first band, The Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.
Helm also witnessed some of the earliest performances by Southern country music, blues and rockabilly artists such as Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley and a fellow Arkansan, Ronnie Hawkins. At age 17, Helm began playing in clubs and bars around Helena.
The Hawks
After graduating from high school, Helm was invited to join Ronnie Hawkins's band, The Hawks, a popular Southern bar and club act which also had success in Canada, where rockabilly acts were very popular. Soon after, Helm joined The Hawks, and they moved to Toronto, Canada, where, in 1959, they signed with Roulette Records and released several singles, including a few hits.
Helm reports in his biography, This Wheel's on Fire, 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 the early 1960s, Helm and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel, and organist Garth Hudson – although all the musicians were multi-instrumentalists. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring under the name "Levon and The Hawks," and later as "The Canadian Squires," before finally 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 Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music and asked the Hawks to be his backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm returned to Arkansas for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by drummer Mickey Jones. It is often reported that during this period Helm worked on off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until he was asked to rejoin the band. This may be possible, but it is also a fact that in late fall of 1965 he left New York for Los Angeles, where he stayed until the fall of 1966, living with his girlfriend at the time, Bonnie Diamond. He spent some of his time there in a pick-up band that featured Leon Russell, Bobby Keyes and other notable musicians and which played gigs in Watts and other parts of the city. With the completion of Dylan's world tour, which included the other four members of the Hawks, Helm went back to Arkansas – to home, to the "woodshed", as he called it, to consider his options. The eventual result was a return to Woodstock to rejoin his group.
After the Hawks toured Europe with Dylan, they followed him back to the U.S. and settled near Woodstock, New York, remaining under salary to him. The Hawks recorded a large number of demo and practice tapes in Woodstock, playing almost daily with Dylan, who had completely withdrawn from public life the previous year. 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 members also began writing their own songs. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel also shared 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 as "The Crackers." However, when Robertson and their new manager Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was cited 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] This allowed The Band to play on Dylan's Planet Waves album and on The Last Waltz, both non-Capitol releases. The Band also recorded their own album Music from Big Pink (1968), which catapulted them into stardom.
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, and bass guitar on some songs. This included the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp", bass (while Danko played fiddle).[6]
Helm remained with The Band until their farewell performance on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film by director Martin Scorsese. The documentary is widely considered the greatest rock and roll film ever made.
Many music enthusiasts know Helm through his appearance in the concert film, a performance remarkable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as he sang them during a grueling concert. However, Helm repudiated his involvement with The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes. In his autobiography, Helm offers scathing criticisms of the film and of Robertson, who produced it.[7]
Solo, acting and the reformed Band
With the breakup of The Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo album Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, with Paul Butterfield and Emmaretta Marks , Howard Johnson,Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn & Booker T, followed by Levon Helm. Helm recorded solo albums in 1980 and 1982 entitled American Son and (once again) Levon Helm. Helm also participated in musician Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music concept album, The Legend of Jesse James, singing the role of Jesse James alongside Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Albert Lee.
In addition to his work as musician, Helm also acted in several dramatic films after the breakup of The Band. His first acting role was the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter in which he portrayed Loretta Lynn's father, followed three years later when he appeared as U.S. Air Force test pilot and engineer, Captain Jack Ridley, in The Right Stuff. He played as a Kentucky backwoods preacher along with Steven Seagal in "Fire Down Below". He played an eccentric old man in the 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and appeared as Gen. John Bell Hood in the 2009 film In The Electric Mist. He also had a brief cameo as a weapons expert in the film Shooter with Mark Wahlberg.
In 1983, The Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, with Jim Weider on guitar. In 1986, while on tour, Manuel committed suicide. Helm, Danko and Hudson continued in The Band, releasing the album Jericho in 1993 and High on the Hog in 1996. The final album from The Band was the 30th anniversary album, Jubilation, released in 1998.
In 1989, Helm and Danko toured with drummer Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. Other musicians in the band included singer/guitarist Joe Walsh, singer/pianist Dr. John, guitarist Nils Lofgren, singer Billy Preston, saxophonist Clarence Clemons and drummer Jim Keltner. Garth Hudson was a guest on accordion on certain dates. Levon played drums and harmonica, and sang "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek" each night.
Helm performed with Danko and Hudson as The Band in 1990 at Roger Waters' 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 a variety of musical guests, allowed Helm to raise money for his medical bills and to resume performing after a nearly career-ending bout with cancer.
In the late 1990s, Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer after suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo a laryngectomy, Helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation treatments at Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Although the tumor was then successfully removed, Helm's vocal cords were damaged, and his clear, powerful tenor voice was replaced by a quiet rasp. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice grew stronger. On January 10, 2004, he sang again at his Ramble Sessions. In 2007, during production of Dirt Farmer, Helm estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.
Early years
Born in Elaine, Arkansas,[5] Helm grew up in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas. His parents, Nell and Diamond Helm, cotton farmers and also great lovers of music, encouraged their children to play and sing. Young Lavon (as he was christened) began playing the guitar at the age of eight and also played drums during his formative years. He saw Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys at the age of six and decided then to become a musician.
Arkansas in the 1940s and 50s stood at the confluence of a variety of musical styles—blues, country and R&B—that later became known as rock and roll. Listening to all these styles on the Grand Ole Opry show on radio station WSM and R&B on radio station WLAC out of Nashville, Tennessee influenced Helm. He also saw traveling shows such as F.S. Walcott's Rabbit's Foot Minstrels that featured top African-American artists of the time.
Another early influence on Helm was the work of harmonica, guitarist and singer Sonny Boy Williamson II, who played blues and early rhythm and blues on the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena and performed regularly in Marvell with blues guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. In his 1993 autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire – Levon Helm and the Story of The Band, Helm describes watching Williamson's drummer, James "Peck" Curtis, intently during a live performance in the early 1950s and later imitating this R&B drumming style. Helm established his first band, The Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.
Helm also witnessed some of the earliest performances by Southern country music, blues and rockabilly artists such as Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley and a fellow Arkansan, Ronnie Hawkins. At age 17, Helm began playing in clubs and bars around Helena.
The Hawks
After graduating from high school, Helm was invited to join Ronnie Hawkins's band, The Hawks, a popular Southern bar and club act which also had success in Canada, where rockabilly acts were very popular. Soon after, Helm joined The Hawks, and they moved to Toronto, Canada, where, in 1959, they signed with Roulette Records and released several singles, including a few hits.
Helm reports in his biography, This Wheel's on Fire, 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 the early 1960s, Helm and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel, and organist Garth Hudson – although all the musicians were multi-instrumentalists. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring under the name "Levon and The Hawks," and later as "The Canadian Squires," before finally 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 Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music and asked the Hawks to be his backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm returned to Arkansas for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by drummer Mickey Jones. It is often reported that during this period Helm worked on off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until he was asked to rejoin the band. This may be possible, but it is also a fact that in late fall of 1965 he left New York for Los Angeles, where he stayed until the fall of 1966, living with his girlfriend at the time, Bonnie Diamond. He spent some of his time there in a pick-up band that featured Leon Russell, Bobby Keyes and other notable musicians and which played gigs in Watts and other parts of the city. With the completion of Dylan's world tour, which included the other four members of the Hawks, Helm went back to Arkansas – to home, to the "woodshed", as he called it, to consider his options. The eventual result was a return to Woodstock to rejoin his group.
After the Hawks toured Europe with Dylan, they followed him back to the U.S. and settled near Woodstock, New York, remaining under salary to him. The Hawks recorded a large number of demo and practice tapes in Woodstock, playing almost daily with Dylan, who had completely withdrawn from public life the previous year. 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 members also began writing their own songs. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel also shared 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 as "The Crackers." However, when Robertson and their new manager Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was cited 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] This allowed The Band to play on Dylan's Planet Waves album and on The Last Waltz, both non-Capitol releases. The Band also recorded their own album Music from Big Pink (1968), which catapulted them into stardom.
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, and bass guitar on some songs. This included the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp", bass (while Danko played fiddle).[6]
Helm remained with The Band until their farewell performance on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film by director Martin Scorsese. The documentary is widely considered the greatest rock and roll film ever made.
Many music enthusiasts know Helm through his appearance in the concert film, a performance remarkable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as he sang them during a grueling concert. However, Helm repudiated his involvement with The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes. In his autobiography, Helm offers scathing criticisms of the film and of Robertson, who produced it.[7]
Solo, acting and the reformed Band
With the breakup of The Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo album Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, with Paul Butterfield and Emmaretta Marks , Howard Johnson,Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn & Booker T, followed by Levon Helm. Helm recorded solo albums in 1980 and 1982 entitled American Son and (once again) Levon Helm. Helm also participated in musician Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music concept album, The Legend of Jesse James, singing the role of Jesse James alongside Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Albert Lee.
In addition to his work as musician, Helm also acted in several dramatic films after the breakup of The Band. His first acting role was the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter in which he portrayed Loretta Lynn's father, followed three years later when he appeared as U.S. Air Force test pilot and engineer, Captain Jack Ridley, in The Right Stuff. He played as a Kentucky backwoods preacher along with Steven Seagal in "Fire Down Below". He played an eccentric old man in the 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and appeared as Gen. John Bell Hood in the 2009 film In The Electric Mist. He also had a brief cameo as a weapons expert in the film Shooter with Mark Wahlberg.
In 1983, The Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, with Jim Weider on guitar. In 1986, while on tour, Manuel committed suicide. Helm, Danko and Hudson continued in The Band, releasing the album Jericho in 1993 and High on the Hog in 1996. The final album from The Band was the 30th anniversary album, Jubilation, released in 1998.
In 1989, Helm and Danko toured with drummer Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. Other musicians in the band included singer/guitarist Joe Walsh, singer/pianist Dr. John, guitarist Nils Lofgren, singer Billy Preston, saxophonist Clarence Clemons and drummer Jim Keltner. Garth Hudson was a guest on accordion on certain dates. Levon played drums and harmonica, and sang "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek" each night.
Helm performed with Danko and Hudson as The Band in 1990 at Roger Waters' 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 a variety of musical guests, allowed Helm to raise money for his medical bills and to resume performing after a nearly career-ending bout with cancer.
In the late 1990s, Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer after suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo a laryngectomy, Helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation treatments at Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Although the tumor was then successfully removed, Helm's vocal cords were damaged, and his clear, powerful tenor voice was replaced by a quiet rasp. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice grew stronger. On January 10, 2004, he sang again at his Ramble Sessions. In 2007, during production of Dirt Farmer, Helm estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.
The Levon Helm Band featured his daughter Amy Helm, along with 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 who played on The Band's "Rock of Ages" and "The Last Waltz" live albums), Jay Collins (Levon's son-in-law), Byron Isaacs, and blues harmonica player Little Sammy Davis. Helm hosted Midnight Rambles at his home in Woodstock that were open to the public.
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. Walcott 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 Garth Hudson, as well as Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Mavis Staples, Chris Robinson, Allen Toussaint, Donald Fagen and Jon Herington of Steely Dan, Jimmy Vivino of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien's" The Max Weinberg 7, Sean Costello, The Muddy Waters Tribute Band, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Carolyn Wonderland, Kris Kristofferson, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Justin Townes Earle, Bow Thayer, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Kate Taylor, Ollabelle, The Holmes Brothers, Catherine Russell, Norah Jones, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Phil Lesh (along with his sons Grahame and Brian), Hot Tuna (although Jorma Kaukonen introduced the group as "The Secret Squirrels"), Michael Angelo D'Arrigo with various members of the Sistine Chapel, Johnny Johnson, Ithalia, David Bromberg and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.[8]
During this period, Helm switched to the matched grip and adopted a less busy, greatly simplified drumming style, as opposed to his years with The Band when he played with the traditional grip.[9]
Helm was busy touring every year during the 2000s, generally traveling by tour bus to venues in Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States. Since 2007, Helm had performed in large venues such the Beacon Theater in New York. Dr. John and Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule) and Garth Hudson played at the concerts as well along with several other guests. At a show in Vancouver, Canada, Elvis Costello joined to sing "Tears of Rage." The Alexis P. Suter Band was a frequent opening act. Helm was a favorite of radio personality Don Imus and was frequently featured on Imus in the Morning. In the Summer of 2009, it was reported that a reality television series centering around the Midnight Ramble was in development.
Dirt Farmer and comeback
The Fall of 2007 saw the release of Dirt Farmer, Helm's first studio solo album since 1982. Dedicated to Helm's parents and co-produced by his daughter Amy, the album combines traditional tunes Levon recalled from his youth with newer songs (by Steve Earle, Paul Kennerley and others) which flow from similar historical streams. The album was released to almost immediate critical acclaim, and earned him a Grammy Award in the Traditional Folk Album category for 2007.
Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, named Lavon (Lee) Henry Collins.[10][11]
In 2008, Helm performed at Warren Haynes' Mountain Jam Music Festival in Hunter, New York. Helm played alongside Warren Haynes on the last day of the three-day festival. Levon also joined guitarist Bob Weir and his band RatDog on stage as they closed out the festival. Helm performed to great acclaim at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.[12][13]
Helm drummed on a couple of tracks for Jorma Kaukonen's February 2009 album River of Time, recorded at the Levon Helm studio.
Helm released the album Electric Dirt on his own label on June 30, 2009.[14] The album won a best album Grammy for the newly created Americana category in 2010. Helm performed on the CBS Television program the Late Show with David Letterman on July 9, 2009. He also toured that same year in a supporting role with the band Black Crowes.
In March 2010, a documentary on Helm's day-to-day life titled Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm was released. Directed by Jacob Hatley, it made its debut at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, and went on to screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2010.[15] The film had a limited release in select theaters throughout the United States in the spring of 2013, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray later that year.
On May 11, 2011, Helm released Ramble at the Ryman, a live album recorded during his performance of September 17, 2008 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The album features Helm's band playing six songs by The Band and other cover material, including some songs from previous Helm solo releases.[16] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.[4]
Illness and death
In 2012, during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cleveland, Robbie Robertson sent "love and prayers" to Helm, fueling speculation on Helm's health. Helm had previously cancelled several performances, citing poor health or a "slipped disk" in his back.[17]
On April 17, 2012, Helm's wife Sandy and daughter Amy revealed that Helm had end-stage 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"[18]
On April 18, Robertson revealed on his Facebook page that he had a long visit with Helm at the hospital the previous Sunday.[19] On the same day, Garth Hudson posted on his personal website that he was "too sad for words". He then left a link for a video of himself and the Alexis P. Suter band performing Bob Dylan's song "Knocking on Heaven's Door".[20]
Surrounded by family and friends, Helm died on the afternoon of April 19, 2012, at 1:30 pm at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.[21][22][23]
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.
Legacy
George Harrison has said that while writing his 1970 song "All Things Must Pass", he imagined Levon Helm singing it.[24]
Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin named the song "Levon" after Helm, although the song is not actually about him.[25] Both John and Taupin cited that they were inspired by Levon Helm, Bernie saying so in various interviews on how they would "go down to their favourite record stores to buy The Band's records" along with Elton.[26]
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.
Tracy K. Smith's 2011 poem "Alternate Take", included in her Pulitzer Prize winning collection Life on Mars, is dedicated to Helm.
On the day of Levon's death, April 19, 2012, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were playing The 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, CO and paid tribute to Levon by dedicating and performing their song "The Best of Everything" to him.
At their concert of May 2, 2012 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed "The Weight" as a tribute to Helm.[27] Springsteen called Helm "one of the greatest, greatest voices in country, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll ... staggering ... while playing the drums. Both his voice and his drumming were so incredibly personal. He had a feel on the drums that comes out of certain place in the past and you can't replicate it." Springsteen also said it was one of the songs that he had drummer Max Weinberg audition with prior to joining the band.
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."[28]
A tribute concert called Love for Levon took place at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 3, 2012. The concert featured many special guests who have collaborated with and were inspired by Helm and The Band including Roger Waters, Garth Hudson, Joe Walsh, Gregg Allman, Bruce Hornsby, Jorma Kaukonen, John Mayer, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Marc Cohn, John Hiatt, Allen Toussaint, Jakob Dylan, Mike Gordon and others.[29] Proceeds from the concert will "help support the lasting legacy of Levon Helm by helping his estate keep ownership of his home, barn and studio, and to continue the Midnight Ramble Sessions."[30]
At the 2013 Grammy Awards, the Zac Brown Band, Mumford & Sons, Elton John, Mavis Staples, T-Bone Burnett and Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard performed "The Weight" as a tribute to Levon and other recently deceased musicians. They also dedicated the song to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.[31]
In May 2013, the New York State Legislature approved a resolution to name State Route 375 – the road which connects State Route 28 with the town of Woodstock – "Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard". Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill on June 20, 2013.
Personal life
Helm met singer-songwriter Libby Titus in April 1969, while The Band was recording its second album.[32] They began a lengthy relationship, which produced daughter Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970).[33] Amy formed the band Ollabelle and performed with her father's band at the Midnight Rambles and other concerts.
Helm met his future wife, 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.
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. Walcott 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 Garth Hudson, as well as Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Mavis Staples, Chris Robinson, Allen Toussaint, Donald Fagen and Jon Herington of Steely Dan, Jimmy Vivino of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien's" The Max Weinberg 7, Sean Costello, The Muddy Waters Tribute Band, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Carolyn Wonderland, Kris Kristofferson, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Justin Townes Earle, Bow Thayer, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Kate Taylor, Ollabelle, The Holmes Brothers, Catherine Russell, Norah Jones, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Phil Lesh (along with his sons Grahame and Brian), Hot Tuna (although Jorma Kaukonen introduced the group as "The Secret Squirrels"), Michael Angelo D'Arrigo with various members of the Sistine Chapel, Johnny Johnson, Ithalia, David Bromberg and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.[8]
During this period, Helm switched to the matched grip and adopted a less busy, greatly simplified drumming style, as opposed to his years with The Band when he played with the traditional grip.[9]
Helm was busy touring every year during the 2000s, generally traveling by tour bus to venues in Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States. Since 2007, Helm had performed in large venues such the Beacon Theater in New York. Dr. John and Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule) and Garth Hudson played at the concerts as well along with several other guests. At a show in Vancouver, Canada, Elvis Costello joined to sing "Tears of Rage." The Alexis P. Suter Band was a frequent opening act. Helm was a favorite of radio personality Don Imus and was frequently featured on Imus in the Morning. In the Summer of 2009, it was reported that a reality television series centering around the Midnight Ramble was in development.
Dirt Farmer and comeback
The Fall of 2007 saw the release of Dirt Farmer, Helm's first studio solo album since 1982. Dedicated to Helm's parents and co-produced by his daughter Amy, the album combines traditional tunes Levon recalled from his youth with newer songs (by Steve Earle, Paul Kennerley and others) which flow from similar historical streams. The album was released to almost immediate critical acclaim, and earned him a Grammy Award in the Traditional Folk Album category for 2007.
Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, named Lavon (Lee) Henry Collins.[10][11]
In 2008, Helm performed at Warren Haynes' Mountain Jam Music Festival in Hunter, New York. Helm played alongside Warren Haynes on the last day of the three-day festival. Levon also joined guitarist Bob Weir and his band RatDog on stage as they closed out the festival. Helm performed to great acclaim at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.[12][13]
Helm drummed on a couple of tracks for Jorma Kaukonen's February 2009 album River of Time, recorded at the Levon Helm studio.
Helm released the album Electric Dirt on his own label on June 30, 2009.[14] The album won a best album Grammy for the newly created Americana category in 2010. Helm performed on the CBS Television program the Late Show with David Letterman on July 9, 2009. He also toured that same year in a supporting role with the band Black Crowes.
In March 2010, a documentary on Helm's day-to-day life titled Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm was released. Directed by Jacob Hatley, it made its debut at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, and went on to screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2010.[15] The film had a limited release in select theaters throughout the United States in the spring of 2013, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray later that year.
On May 11, 2011, Helm released Ramble at the Ryman, a live album recorded during his performance of September 17, 2008 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The album features Helm's band playing six songs by The Band and other cover material, including some songs from previous Helm solo releases.[16] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.[4]
Illness and death
In 2012, during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cleveland, Robbie Robertson sent "love and prayers" to Helm, fueling speculation on Helm's health. Helm had previously cancelled several performances, citing poor health or a "slipped disk" in his back.[17]
On April 17, 2012, Helm's wife Sandy and daughter Amy revealed that Helm had end-stage 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"[18]
On April 18, Robertson revealed on his Facebook page that he had a long visit with Helm at the hospital the previous Sunday.[19] On the same day, Garth Hudson posted on his personal website that he was "too sad for words". He then left a link for a video of himself and the Alexis P. Suter band performing Bob Dylan's song "Knocking on Heaven's Door".[20]
Surrounded by family and friends, Helm died on the afternoon of April 19, 2012, at 1:30 pm at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.[21][22][23]
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.
Legacy
George Harrison has said that while writing his 1970 song "All Things Must Pass", he imagined Levon Helm singing it.[24]
Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin named the song "Levon" after Helm, although the song is not actually about him.[25] Both John and Taupin cited that they were inspired by Levon Helm, Bernie saying so in various interviews on how they would "go down to their favourite record stores to buy The Band's records" along with Elton.[26]
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.
Tracy K. Smith's 2011 poem "Alternate Take", included in her Pulitzer Prize winning collection Life on Mars, is dedicated to Helm.
On the day of Levon's death, April 19, 2012, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were playing The 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, CO and paid tribute to Levon by dedicating and performing their song "The Best of Everything" to him.
At their concert of May 2, 2012 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed "The Weight" as a tribute to Helm.[27] Springsteen called Helm "one of the greatest, greatest voices in country, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll ... staggering ... while playing the drums. Both his voice and his drumming were so incredibly personal. He had a feel on the drums that comes out of certain place in the past and you can't replicate it." Springsteen also said it was one of the songs that he had drummer Max Weinberg audition with prior to joining the band.
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."[28]
A tribute concert called Love for Levon took place at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 3, 2012. The concert featured many special guests who have collaborated with and were inspired by Helm and The Band including Roger Waters, Garth Hudson, Joe Walsh, Gregg Allman, Bruce Hornsby, Jorma Kaukonen, John Mayer, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, Marc Cohn, John Hiatt, Allen Toussaint, Jakob Dylan, Mike Gordon and others.[29] Proceeds from the concert will "help support the lasting legacy of Levon Helm by helping his estate keep ownership of his home, barn and studio, and to continue the Midnight Ramble Sessions."[30]
At the 2013 Grammy Awards, the Zac Brown Band, Mumford & Sons, Elton John, Mavis Staples, T-Bone Burnett and Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard performed "The Weight" as a tribute to Levon and other recently deceased musicians. They also dedicated the song to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.[31]
In May 2013, the New York State Legislature approved a resolution to name State Route 375 – the road which connects State Route 28 with the town of Woodstock – "Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard". Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill on June 20, 2013.
Personal life
Helm met singer-songwriter Libby Titus in April 1969, while The Band was recording its second album.[32] They began a lengthy relationship, which produced daughter Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970).[33] Amy formed the band Ollabelle and performed with her father's band at the Midnight Rambles and other concerts.
Helm met his future wife, 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.
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