1. Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm 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.
46 Facts About Levon Helm
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Levon Helm had a successful career as a film actor, appearing as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter, as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff, Laura Dern's father in Smooth Talk, as a Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter, and as General John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist.
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In 1998, Levon Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer which caused him to lose his singing voice.
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Levon Helm grew up in Turkey Scratch, a hamlet of Marvell, Arkansas.
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Levon Helm saw Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys at the age of six and decided to become a musician.
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Levon Helm began playing the guitar at the age of eight and played drums.
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Levon Helm established his first band, the Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.
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Levon Helm witnessed some of the earliest performances by early rock and roll and rockabilly artists, including Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley, and fellow Arkansan Ronnie Hawkins.
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At age 17, Levon Helm began playing in clubs and bars around Helena.
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Levon Helm's mother insisted that he graduate from high school before touring with Hawkins, but he was able to play with the Hawks locally on weekends.
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Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Levon Helm left the group in the autumn of 1965 for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by a range of touring drummers and Manuel, who began to double on the instrument.
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Levon Helm spent time with his family in Arkansas, and undertook sojourns in Los Angeles, where he experimented with LSD and performed with Bobby Keys, and Memphis and New Orleans, where he worked on a nearby oil platform.
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On Music from Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist, and Levon Helm sang backup and harmony, with the exception of "The Weight".
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Levon Helm was primarily a drummer and vocalist and increasingly sang lead, although, like all his bandmates, he was a multi-instrumentalist.
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On occasion, Manuel switched to drums while Levon Helm played mandolin, guitar, or bass guitar on some songs.
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Levon Helm played the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp".
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Levon Helm remained with the Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25,1976, which was the subject of the documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.
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Levon Helm repudiated his involvement with The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes.
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Levon Helm participated in musician Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music concept album, The Legend of Jesse James, singing the role of Jesse James alongside Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Daniels, Albert Lee, and others.
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Levon Helm was cast as Loretta Lynn's father in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter, followed three years later by a role as US Air Force test pilot and engineer Capt.
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Levon Helm played a Kentucky backwoods preacher in Fire Down Below.
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Levon Helm played an eccentric old man in the 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and appeared as Gen.
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Levon Helm had a brief cameo as a weapons expert in the film Shooter with Mark Wahlberg.
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Levon Helm played drums and harmonica and sang "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek" each night.
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Levon Helm was not present at the ceremony, but a taped segment of him offering his thanks was broadcast after the acceptance speeches by Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson.
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The Levon Helm Band featured his daughter Amy Helm, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Jim Weider, Jimmy Vivino, Mike Merritt, Brian Mitchell, Erik Lawrence, Steven Bernstein, Howard Johnson, Clark Gayton, Jay Collins, Byron Isaacs, and blues harmonica player Little Sammy Davis.
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Levon Helm hosted Midnight Rambles that were open to the public at his home in Woodstock.
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The Midnight Ramble was an outgrowth of an idea Levon Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in The Last Waltz.
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Levon Helm was busy touring every year during the 2000s, generally traveling by tour bus to venues in eastern Canada and the eastern United States.
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Levon Helm was a favorite of radio personality Don Imus and was frequently featured on Imus in the Morning.
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Levon Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, Lavon Henry Collins.
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In 2008, Levon Helm performed at Warren Haynes's Mountain Jam Music Festival in Hunter, New York, playing alongside Haynes on the last day of the three-day festival.
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Levon Helm joined guitarist Bob Weir and his band RatDog on stage as they closed out the festival.
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Levon Helm performed to great acclaim at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
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Levon Helm released the album Electric Dirt on his own label on June 30,2009.
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Levon Helm performed on the CBS television program Late Show with David Letterman on July 9,2009.
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Levon Helm toured that same year in a supporting role with the band Black Crowes.
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On May 11,2011, Levon Helm released Ramble at the Ryman, a live album recorded during his performance of September 17,2008, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
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The album features Levon Helm's band playing six songs by the Band and other cover material, including some songs from previous Levon Helm solo releases.
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Levon Helm is in the final stages of his battle with cancer.
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Levon Helm then left a link for a video of the Alexis P Suter Band and himself performing Bob Dylan's song "Knocking on Heaven's Door".
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In 1994, Levon Helm was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Band.
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Levon Helm had a feel on the drums that comes out of certain place in the past and you can't replicate it.
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Proceeds from the concert were to "help support the lasting legacy of Levon Helm by helping his estate keep ownership of his home, barn and studio, and to continue the Midnight Ramble Sessions".
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Levon Helm met singer-songwriter Libby Titus in April 1969, while the Band was recording its second album.
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Levon Helm met Sandra Dodd in 1975 in California, while he was still involved with Titus.