Robbie Robertson inducted into Hall of Fame
Toronto-born guitarist wrote main songs for the Band
Legendary musician Robbie Robertson, best known for his time with The Band, has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The 67-year-old guitarist was the main songwriter for the group, which included Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson. His hit singles include The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up On Cripple Creek, Broken Arrow and Somewhere Down the Crazy River.
Robertson was honoured at the Saturday night gala in Toronto with a video paying homage to his work, which has already earned him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Other inductees included Pierre Letourneau, Jack Scott, John Stromberg, Romeo Beaudry and Luc Plamondon, who has written songs for Celine Dion and Robert Charlebois.
Spent summers on the reserve
Born in 1943 in Toronto to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother, Robertson spent many summers with his mother's family on the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations reserve near Brantford, Ont.
Robertson worked as a musician in the late 1950s, eventually hooking up with singer Ronnie Hawkins, who led The Hawks. Hawkins recorded two Robertson songs in 1960, Someone Like You and Hey Boba Lu.
Robertson toured with The Hawks until 1963, at which point he joined up with the men who would eventually become The Band.
The group's two first albums, Music from Big Pink (1968) and The Band (1969) are rock classics.
The Band broke up in 1976 and famously performed their last concert in San Francisco, shot by Martin Scorsese and released two years later in the film The Last Waltz. They were joined by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Van Morrison and Ringo Starr.
Robertson continued to make music, composing scores for movies including Scorsese's Raging Bull and The Color of Money.
He has a new album due out on April 5 and is also set to write his memoirs.
In 1997, Robertson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters and in 2003, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
In 2008, The Band were given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.