Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson was a guitarist and songwriter who first gained attention as part of The Band, a group that blended rock, folk, and Americana on songs like 'The Weight' and 'Up on Cripple Creek.' He was born in Toronto in 1943 and played with Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson in that lineup.

After The Band ended in 1976, Robertson worked on his own material. His first solo album came out in 1987 and included 'Shine Your Light,' a track that appears in his catalog alongside others like 'Akua Tuta' and 'Fallen Angel.' He recorded several more albums, including Storyville in 1991 and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy in 1998.

Robertson's later work sometimes touched on his Mohawk heritage, as with Music for the Native Americans in 2011. He wrote an autobiography called Testimony and kept performing and recording, though he avoided the more dramatic claims sometimes attached to his story.