The Band

The Band was a Canadian-American rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, drums, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano, percussion) and the American Levon Helm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar, bass). The Band's music combined elements of Americana, folk, rock, R&B, jazz and country, which influenced artists including George Harrison, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, and Wilco. Between 1958 and 1963, the group was known as the Hawks and were the backing band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. In the mid-1960s, they gained recognition for backing Bob Dylan on his 1966 concert tour as Dylan's first electric band. After leaving Dylan and changing their name to The Band, they released their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink and its succeeding album, 1969's The Band to critical acclaim and commercial success. According to AllMusic, Music from Big Pink influenced several generations of musicians. Pink Floyd member Roger Waters deemed it the "second-most influential record in the history of rock and roll", and music journalist Al Aronowitz called it "country soul ... a sound never heard before". Their most popular songs included "The Weight" (1968), "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (1969), and "Up on Cripple Creek" (1969). The Band performed their farewell concert on November 25, 1976. Footage from the event was released in 1978 as the concert film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. It would be the last performance of the original five members. After five years apart, Danko, Hudson, Helm, and Manuel reunited in 1983 for a tour without Robertson, who had taken up a new career as a producer and composer for film soundtracks. Manuel died in 1986, but the remaining three members continued to tour and occasionally released new albums of studio material until Danko's death in 1999, after which the remaining members broke up for good. Helm would go on to have a successful solo career, winning multiple Grammy Awards in the folk and Americana categories until his 2012 death, while Hudson worked as a featured session musician. Robertson died in 2023 and Hudson in 2025. Music critic Bruce Eder described The Band as "one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics ... as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones." The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them 50th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and ranked "The Weight" 41st on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2008, the group received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2014, were inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

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