A Canadian-American rock group, active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999. It mainly consisted of Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano), Richard Manuel (piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone, organ), Garth Hudson (organ, piano, clavinet, accordion, synthesizer, saxophone), Rick Danko (bass guitar, violin, trombone) and Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar). For about six years, from 1968 through 1975, the Band was one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the public) as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
The members of the Band first worked together as the Hawks, the backing band of Toronto-based rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins from 1959 until 1963 when they split from the singer over personal differences and toured for a while as Levon and the Hawks.
They met up with Dylan around 1965 and were invited to join him on his highly successful 1965-1966 world tour. There were some abortive recording sessions with the Hawks, but Dylan was dissatisfied with the results. However, Robertson replaced Mike Bloomfield as Dylan's primary guitarist on sessions for Blonde on Blonde, released in mid-1966. The album's credits also include Danko on bass and Hudson on keyboards and sax.
While on a break from touring, Dylan suffered a motorcycle accident and retired into semi-seclusion in Woodstock, New York. For a while, the Hawks returned to the bar and roadhouse touring circuit, sometimes backing other singers (including a brief stint with Tiny Tim). Dylan then invited the Hawks to join him in Woodstock, where they recorded a much-bootlegged and hugely influential series of demos, subsequently released as The Basement Tapes.
The Hawks then began writing their own songs in a rented large pink house in West Saugerties (near Woodstock) and were named the Band by their record company (since this is how they were referred to during their time with Dylan). Their first album, Music from Big Pink (1968) was widely acclaimed. The album included three songs written or co-written by Dylan (This Wheel's On Fire, Tears Of Rage and I Shall Be Released) as well as The Weight, which was used in the film Easy Rider.
After the success of Big Pink, the band went on tour (including a performance at the Woodstock festival, which was not included in the film due to legal complications).
That same year, they left for Los Angeles to record their follow up, The Band (1969). From their deliberately rustic appearance on the cover, to the songs and arrangements within, the album stood in contrast to other popular music of the day. As with Dylan (on John Wesley Harding) and the Byrds (on Sweetheart of the Rodeo), this really defined country-rock music with songs that evoked oldtime rural America.
These first two records were produced by John Simon, who was practically a group member, helping with arrangements and played occasional instruments (piano or tuba). Both Big Pink and The Band were also hugely influential on their musical contemporaries, with both Eric Clapton and George Harrison citing the Band as a major influence on their musical direction in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Band then embarked on their first tour as a headlining act and their next work reveals some of the fears and anxieties arising from that period. Stage Fright (1970) was engineered by Todd Rundgren and recorded on a stage in Woodstock, NY, but the fraying of the group's once fabled unity was beginning to show. On this album, Robertson took the majority of songwriting credit, whereas the earlier two albums had more balance in credit. Also, the trademark vocal style of the Band's three lead singers was much less prominent on this work.
After recording Stage Fright, the Band was among the acts participating in the Festival Express, an all-star rock concert tour of Canada by train that also included Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. In the concert documentary film, released in 2003, Danko can be seen participating in a drunken jam session with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Joplin.
At about this time, Robertson began exerting greater control over the Band, which created some tension, especially between Helm and Robertson. Despite mounting problems between the musicians, the Band forged ahead with their next album, Cahoots (1971), which included some of their best-known tunes such as Dylan's When I Paint My Masterpiece and Life Is A Carnival (with a horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint).
One of their most notable later albums is the live recording Rock of Ages (1972), recorded at a 1971/1972 New Year's Eve concert and featuring the line-up, bolstered by the addition of a horn section, in exuberant form. The horn arrangements were again by Toussaint. Dylan appeared on stage for the concert's final four songs, including a version of the rare song When I Paint My Masterpiece.
In 1973 the Band released Moondog Matinee, an album of cover songs. There was no tour in support of the album, which got mixed reviews. However they did open for the Grateful Dead for two summer shows at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. They also played at the legendary Summer Jam outside Watkins Glen, NY in July 1973. The festival, which was attended by over 600,000 music fans, also featured sets from the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band.
The Band then reunited with Dylan, first in recording Dylan's album Planet Waves, released in January 1974, and then for the Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour, which played 40 shows in North America during January and February 1974. Later that year, the live album, Before the Flood was released, documenting the tour.
By 1976, Robertson was weary of touring. After having to cancel some tour dates due to Manuel suffering a severe neck injury in a boating accident in Texas, Robertson urged the Band to retire from touring with a massive Thanksgiving Day concert on November 25 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The concert featured a horn section with arrangements by Toussaint and a list of guests including Hawkins, Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Paul Butterfield and Neil Diamond. Titled The Last Waltz, the concert was filmed by director Martin Scorsese, and was subsequently combined with interviews, as well as separately-recorded soundstage performances with country singer Emmylou Harris (Evangeline) and gospel-soul group the Staple Singers (The Weight). Released in 1978, the concert film-documentary was accompanied by a triple-LP soundtrack.
After one more studio record, entitled Islands, the Band split up. In 1983, the Band reformed and recommenced touring, though without Robertson. Several different musicians were recruited to replace Robertson and to fill out the group. The reunited Band was generally well-received, but found themselves playing in smaller venues than during the peak of their popularity.
In 1984, Danko joined members of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and others in the huge touring company that made up 'The Byrds Twenty-Year Celebration'. Several members of the band performed solo songs to start the show including Danko who performed Mystery Train.
While the reunited Band was touring in March 1986, Manuel committed suicide in his Florida hotel room. It was revealed later that he had suffered for many years from chronic alcoholism.
The surviving members participated in former Pink Floyd bandleader Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin in 1990, and in Dylan's 30th anniversary concert celebration in New York City in October 1992. The reformed group recorded Jericho in 1993 with much of the songwriting originating outside the group.
In December 1999, Danko died in his sleep at age 56. He had been a long-time drug user, but no drugs were found in his system at the time of his death.
Robertson became a music producer and wrote movie soundtracks (including acting as music supervisor for several of Scorsese's films) and has released a couple of moderately well-received solo albums.
Helm acted in Coal Miner's Daughter, a biographical film about Loretta Lynn, and had a small supporting role opposite Sam Shepard in 1983's The Right Stuff. The remaining members interspersed session work with occasional solo releases. Multi-instrumentalist Hudson has released two acclaimed solo albums, The Sea To The North in 2001, and LIVE at the WOLF in 2005, both featuring his wife, Maud, on vocals. He has also kept busy as an in-demand studio musician.