Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012)[1] was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. 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 Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff (1983), as a Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter (2007), and as General John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist (2009).
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 its list of 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] In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 22 in its list of 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time.[5]
^"Levon Helm Dies at 71". Poughkeepsie Journal.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
^"100 Greatest Singers: Levon Helm". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 4, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
^"Woodstock residents Levon Helm, Steve Earle win Grammys". dailyfreeman.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
^"Best Americana Album". Grammy.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
^"100 Greatest Drummers: Levon Helm". Rolling Stone. March 31, 2016.
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists...
Robertson (guitar, songwriting, vocals, piano, percussion), and American LevonHelm (drums, vocals, mandolin, guitar, bass). The Band combined elements of...
Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the daughter of drummer LevonHelm and singer Libby Titus. She...
was with LevonHelm, who later joined the Band, in 1963. In his autobiography, Helm recalls that he first met Smith in Hamilton, Ontario. Helm, with friend...
career. The group consisted of Rick Danko on bass, violin, and vocals, LevonHelm on drums, mandolin, and vocals, Garth Hudson on keyboards, saxophone and...
ISBN 978-1550228748. Retrieved February 18, 2016. Helm, Levon; Davis, Stephen (1993). This Wheel's On Fire: LevonHelm and The Story of The Band (first ed.). New...
the LevonHelm Sextet with saxophonist Jerry Penfound. After Penfound left, they changed their name to The Canadian Squires, and finally to Levon and...
returned to Woodstock to tour with Robbie Dupree and LevonHelm Woodstock All Stars. LevonHelm invited Jim to become the Band's sole guitarist in 1985...
Hawke. Levon was born in 2002, the younger of two children born to actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. He was reportedly named after LevonHelm from the...
group The Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album. LevonHelm provided the lead vocals. The song is a first-person narrative relating...
the American South, the life experiences of band members, particularly LevonHelm, and movies of filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Luis Buñuel. The original...
solely to Robertson, although the lyrics, according to LevonHelm, were originally improvised by Helm and Richard Manuel, telling the story of a man who becomes...
of the 1970s, Titus's partner was musician LevonHelm (1940–2012). They had a daughter, the singer Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970). In 1987, Titus met...
Randy Ciarlante is an American musician who frequently played with The Band. He joined The Band in 1990, singing harmony and playing drums. He played and...
interpretation of the theme from the film The Third Man. In a 2002 interview, LevonHelm described the reasoning for recording an album of covers: "That was all...
Willard "Pop" Jones (piano) and formed a band they named The Hawks. Drummer LevonHelm, who had grown up in nearby Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, first played with...
musician LevonHelm, former drummer and vocalist of The Band. The album was released on October 30, 2007, on Vanguard Records, and was Helm's first studio...
performed with Marco Benevento at the Midnight Ramble Sessions at the LevonHelm studios in Woodstock NY, and performed on the main stage at Osheaga and...
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