Canadian rocker, Robbie Robertson, has died. He died at the age of 80.
Robertson made his breakthrough while performing in what later became Mississauga.
In his 2016 autobiography Testimony, Robertson revealed that he was a teen when his band opened for the legendary Ronnie Hawkins at old Dixie Arena on Dundas St. and Stanfield Rd.
Hawkins, impressed with Robertson’s guitar playing and his ability to write tunes, hired Robertson to become part of his “band.”
“I was only fifteen and Ronnie was playing the Dixie Arena in the west end of Toronto; the band I was in, the Suedes, was opening,” Robinson stated in his book. “We’d been playing around Toronto for a few months, and opening for Ronnie Hawkins was the biggest thing we’d ever done. After that night, I would look at music in a whole different light.”
Hawkins’ “band” later metamorphosed into The Band.
Robertson and The Band later became backing singers for Bob Dylan but later left Dylan to become successful recording artists on their own. They produced hits like The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up On Cripple Creek, and The Shape I’m In and appeared at Woodstock in 1969.
When members of The Band went their separate ways in the 80s, Robertson came back with a self-titled solo album that produced hits Showdown at Big Sky and Somewhere Down the Crazy River.
He later delved into scoring films for Martin Scorsese on Raging Bull, The Color of Money and The King of Comedy.
Robertson was born in Toronto. He died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home after a protracted illness.
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