Robbie Robertson

Renowned as a guitarist, composer, and soundtrack producer, Robbie Robertson is best known as a founding member of The Band, who reimagined what a rock group could look and sound like in the late ’60s with their Americana-oriented songwriting and aesthetic. Robertson was born in 1943 in Toronto, where he played in bands as a teenager, eventually joining rockabilly cut-up Ronnie Hawkins’ backing group The Hawks at age 18. After several years spent juggling disparate gigs—including accompanying Bob Dylan during his early electric period and the legendary Basement Tapes sessions—The Hawks renamed themselves The Band. Their influential 1968 debut, Music From Big Pink, featured four original Robertson tunes, including the enduring rock standard “The Weight.” He would go on to pen several of the group’s other biggest singles, including “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Up On Cripple Creek.” His friendship with director Martin Scorsese led to 1978’s The Last Waltz, the acclaimed documentary concert film and soundtrack album capturing the original Band’s star-studded farewell performance. Following a decade of scattered projects, Robertson’s self-titled solo debut arrived in 1987, featuring sonically adventurous production from Daniel Lanois and guests including U2 and Peter Gabriel. In the decades since, Robertson has worked as a label executive and soundtrack curator—most notably for many of Scorsese’s films—while periodically releasing solo records, some of which have explored his Indigenous heritage.