Robbie Roberston

Robbie Robertson, a Canadian musician and songwriter, and leader of the influential rock group The Band died August 9, 2023. He was 80.

Born Jaime Royal Robertson on July 5, 1943, he was one of the last two surviving members of The Band, an influential rock band that mixed folk, gospel and jazz with rhythm and blues and helped forge a distinctly American kind of roots rock sound. Robertson played lead guitar and wrote some of The Band’s best-known songs, including “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” But it was Robertson's appearance in "The Last Waltz," a 1978 documentary about the group's farewell concert that was directed by Martin Scorsese, that made him a star. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest concert films ever made.

Robertson went on to produce scores and curated songs for Scorsese movies like "Raging Bull," "The Departed," "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "The Irishman." Shortly before he died, Robertson finished his 14th film music project with Scorsese called "Killers of the Flower Moon."