Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm was an American rock 'n' roller, Americana musician, and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and regular lead vocalist for The Band. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDrummer
Date of Birth26 May 1940
CityElaine, AR
CountryUnited States of America
Maybe the greatness we heard in [Richard Manuel]'s voice, that catch in it, came from all that pain. To this day, we don't really know.
By the time The Band did The Last Waltz, the chemistry had changed, and it wasn't a thrill anymore to live that studio kind of life.
I played some Yamaha drums that I like a lot. And I like the Yamaha people a lot too. They've been really nice to me and The Band.
Most of our stuff was trial and error. You live with a tape recorder, you turn it on, you play the song and you listen to it.
Good times don't last long sometimes.
I love horns, and the bigger the band, the better it sounds to my ear.
Drums usually seem to tune themselves.
When the second record came out, they started calling it The Band. I voted to call it The Crackers. I'm no fool.
My dad and I played music. He teaches me a song or two every time I'm home.
My parents wanted me to be smart and be a scholar, and the best I could do was graduate high school.
If you feel like you're getting into a rut with a song, a night off usually fixes it.
I like walking on the edge.
I've had all the lessons I could get. I've learned from everybody I've ever met.
I had throat cancer, and I had to have radiation treatments, and I couldn't sing for a long time; and this was in '97. I had 28 radiation treatments. I didn't die, thank God.