The Band

The Band was an influential Canadian-American rock and roll group of the 1960s and '70s, formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Band included Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano, drums, harmonica); Richard Manuel (1943-1986) (piano, harmonica, drums, saxophone, organ, slide guitar); Garth Hudson (organ, piano, clavinet, accordion, synthesizer, saxophone); Rick Danko (1943-1999) (bass guitar, violin, trombone, guitar), and Levon Helm (1940-2012) (drums, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, harmonica).

The members of The Band first worked together as The Hawks, the backing band of rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins from 1959 until 1963. Afterwards, Bob Dylan recruited the quintet for his history-making 1965/1966 world tour and they joined him on the informal recordings that became the acclaimed Basement Tapes.