Levon Helm ist gestorben

19.04.2012 Der 1940 in Marvell, Arkansas, geborene US-amerikanische Musiker Levon Helm (Bild) ist heute Donnerstag in New York City gestorben. Helm spielte hauptsächlich Schlagzeug und Mandoline und übernahm bei vielen Songs von The Band den Gesangspart.

Bild: Levon Helm 2004 - Foto: Photo by Jaime Martorano. Original uploader was Wisekwai at en.wikipedia, Lizenz: GNU-Lizenz für freie Dokumentation. Die Originaldatei ist hier zu finden: http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:LevonHelmWoodstockNY2004.jpg&filetimestamp=20070113145142

"In Mr. Helm's drumming, muscle, swing, economy and finesse were inseparably merged. His voice held the bluesy, weathered and resilient essence of his Arkansas upbringing in the Mississippi Delta.

Mr. Helm was the American linchpin of the otherwise Canadian group that became Bob Dylan's backup band and then The Band. Its own songs, largely written by the Band's guitarist, Jaime Robbie Robertson, and pianist, Richard Manuel, spring from roadhouse, church, backwoods, river and farm; they are rock-ribbed with history and tradition yet hauntingly surreal."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/arts/music/levon-helm-drummer-and-singer-dies-at-71.html

"Levon Helm came to fame in a rootsy rock group that featured three extraordinary voices. But you could always tell which was his: It was the sound of the lusty wildcat, the stern Southern preacher, the depleted Confederate soldier, the dirt farmer at the end of his day."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/story/2012-04-19/levon-helm-the-band-dies/54416386/1

"A shorthand way of describing Levon Helm, who has died of cancer aged 71, would be as the drummer with The Band, who were Bob Dylan's backing group as he made the leap from folk to rock, and then forged a hugely influential career of their own in the late 1960s and 70s. This would have made Helm eminent enough, but his career stretched in many other directions, as drummer with the rock'n'roller Ronnie Hawkins, solo artist, prolific film actor and, most recently, host of the all-star Midnight Ramble Sessions. He was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, and a fine and distinctive singer."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/apr/19/levon-helm

"'He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates,' Helm's longtime guitarist Larry Campbell tells Rolling Stone. 'All his friends were there, and it seemed like Levon was waiting for them. Ten minutes after they left we sat there and he just faded away. He did it with dignity. It was even two days ago they thought it would happen within hours, but he held on. It seems like he was Levon up to the end, doing it the way he wanted to do it. He loved us, we loved him.'"

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/levon-helm-drummer-and-singer-of-the-band-dies-at-71-20120419

"Als Schlagzeuger von The Band prägte Levon Helm den Folkrock der Hippie-Ära, begleitete Bob Dylan, stand für Klassiker wie 'The Weight' und 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down'."

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/0,1518,828668,00.html

"Der einzige gute Sänger unter lauter Musikern: Der Schlagzeuger und Bandleader Levon Helm war eine Schlüsselfigur des Countryrock und sang die wichtigsten Lieder von The Band."

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/zum-tod-von-levon-helm-der-einzige-gute-saenger-unter-lauter-musikern-11724593.html

LevonHelm