Robbie Robertson fought to help bandmates through addiction struggles

Robbie Robertson’s death was confirmed by his management, saying the musician died in Los Angeles aged 80 following a “long illness”.

Jaren Levine, Robertson’s manager for 34 years, told Variety the singer-songwriter was “surrounded by his family” at the time of his death including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife Dominique, and his three children.

Robertson rose to prominence in the 70s alongside lifetime friend Bob Dylan, leading the Band during the singer’s often-debated Dylan Goes Electric era in 1965.

At the time, the band – completed by Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson – were known as The Hawks.

In his 2016 memoir, Testimony, Robertson opened up about his bandmates Danko, Manuel and Helm’s use of heroin.

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While admitting he tried it, he said “it wasn’t” for him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t surrounded by drugs in his career.

He continued: “And I didn’t know anybody that didn’t do drugs. It was so normal.

“But what I did discover was that when it got in the way of what I wanted to do, when [I felt] ‘Holy – ! I’m going to die if I keep living this way,’ I went in the other direction. My addiction was work.”

He said in an interview with The Guardian in 2019: “From a very young age, we understood that Richard had difficulty with alcohol and addiction.

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“Everybody did something that raised the level of what we were doing to a stronger place.”

His “something” was the main part of the creative direction of where this group would go.

This led him to have a close relationship with the band’s manager Albert Grossman and take charge of the group’s songwriting.

In 1968, the band signed to Capitol Records and were renamed The Band – a group which has since been acclaimed as a major influence on major rock musicians in the decades that followed.

They released their first album, Music from the Big Pink, that same year, and continued to perform together for eight years.

Eric Clapton reportedly disbanded Cream after he listened to The Band’s debut album.

Robertson later had a close relationship with Martin Scorsese, with the pair working together for over 55 years on projects – including his final project.

The esteemed director and filmmaker has often used Robertson to work on the music for his films, most recently in The Irishman.

They have worked on films including Raging Bull, Shutter Island, The Wolf Of Wall Street and The Departed.

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