Thursday, April 19, 2012

Levon Helm (1940-2012)

Earlier today, the music world lost another icon with the passing of singer-songwriter-actor Levon Helm, who was the drummer and one of the lead singers of The Band, the seminal folk-rock group who started as a support band for folk singer Ronnie Hawkins before going off on their own. Helm lost his battle with cancer at 71.

MrYouTube1954 uploaded the Band's performance of "Up On Cripple Creek", taken from a 1969 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show:



A line from another Band classic, "The Weight", somehow seems prophetic right now. The song opens with the line, "I came to Nazareth, was feeling about half past dead.". Helm sang those words, and now, he's left us.

Rest in peace, Levon.

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