Jaime Royal ‘Robbie’ Robertson was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He started learning the guitar at the age of 9, and, as a young teen, cut his teeth in popular music bands in the mid- to late-50s. By the time he was 16 he had received his first break when Ronnie Hawkins spotted the young musician in Toronto playing with The Suedes, and joined them on stage. Hawkins then invited Robbie to play bass for his backing band The Hawks, joining drummer and singer Levon Helm and later recruiting bassist Rick Danko (Robbie switching to guitar), pianist Richard Manuel and keyboardist Garth Hudson in the early 60s. The line-up would go on to become The Band.
By 1964, tired of playing rockabilly, the group parted from Hawkins. For years, they had toured, living in hotels and camping out in disused cars. “We’ve played such far out places that I couldn’t evenback in 1968. “We played places where the people didn’t come to hear you, they’d come to mess with you. They’d flick cigarette butts at you and throw money at you and steal your things, and, if you got past that, then they’d listen to you.”
