On This Day, April 19, 2012…
Levon Helm, best known as the drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist for The Band, died at age 71 of throat cancer.
Helm was featured on many of The Band’s classic tracks, including “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
He was with The Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976. The performance was later turned into the critically acclaimed documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.
In addition to music, Helm dabbled in acting and appeared in movies like Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff, Feeling Minnesota and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
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