Helm's family posted a message on the veteran musician's Web site Tuesday, stating the Band singer and drummer "is in the final stages of his battle with cancer."
Levon Helm
Levon Helm has passed away after a long battle with cancer.
He was 71.
According to Rolling Stone, who spoke with Levon's bandmate, Larry Campbell, he died at 1:30pm Thursday afternoon, April 19.
"He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates," Helm's longtime guitarist Larry Campbell told 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."
The late Levon Helm at the former Bubba Mac Shack in Somers Point, NJ:
Below posted Wednesday, April 18:
According to the Woodstock, New York-area Times Herald-Record, Levon Helm is dying.
"Woodstock's Levon Helm, who has given as much of himself to his fans and friends in Ulster County as he has to rock 'n' roll history, is dying," states the article, published early Wednesday morning.
Helm's family posted a message on the veteran musician's Web site Tuesday, stating the Band singer and drummer "is in the final stages of his battle with cancer."
It reads:
Dear Friends,
Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.
Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration ... he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage ...
We appreciate all the love and support and concern.
From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy.
Helm's manager Barbara O'Brien posted the following message on Helm's Facebook page:
"Thank you, all, for the outpouring of kindness and love. I know Levon is feeling it and that love will help guide him through this final journey. Thank you for your respect for his, Sandy's and Amy's privacy. YOU are truly people with class and Levon would think the world of you. The pain of knowing we're going to lose him is almost too much for all of us to bear at the moment. But it can't be about US. This is about honoring this great man's dignity and privacy. Let's send him off with love, positive energy, lots of light and words of support and comfort. Keep sending the great posts. I'm going to read them all to him. Thank you so, so much!"
Helm, is one month shy from turning 72. His long battle with cancer — and his will to survive — has been well documented. Featured on the Band classics "The Weight," "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," Helm in recent years has been holding all-star jam session concerts ("Midnight Rambles") at his Woodstock barn.
He just earned his third Grammy award in February for his third consecutive solo album, recorded during what has been a period seeing a resurgence in Helm's popularity, output and respect for the Arkansas native.
Helm, who previously survived throat cancer, and worked hard to regain in his unmistakable voice, spent time in the Atlantic City area over the years, including a summer 1965 stint at the Somers Point club Tony Mart's, where Levon & The Hawks were booked for the summer.
Until Bob Dylan called the club and asked the group to back him on an upcoming series of electric shows.
Following the historic world-wide tour (which Helm didn't appear on for the most part), Levon & The Hawks became the Band. Helm and the group continued to work on and off with Dylan for several years.
Helm played the Borgata in 2009 with the Black Crowes and also performed several more times in Somers Point at the former Bubba Mac Shack (see pics) and on the city's beach.
Helm was also in the Jersey shore area in 2003 to work on the Dixie Hummingbirds album Diamond Jubilation being recorded in a studio in the rural Scullville section of Egg Harbor Township (about 20 minutes outside of Atlantic City).
Read more about Helm and his connections to our area:
“It’s going to be a joyous community event. ... We have been working on this for two years.”
Plus the late Levon Helm's local ties and Drew Toonz
OK, for those of you who have just tuned in, here are a few reasons why Levon Helm’s appearance at the Borgata this Saturday, Aug. 29 — where his band will be the special guest for the Black Crowes show (8pm) — is a local-interest story.
Kids need to see real people playing real songs on real instruments," Levon Helm, 67, told the New York Times earlier this year. "There's too much phoniness in the world." There's not a hint of spur...
Bob Dylan Where: Bogata Event Center When: June 22 & 23, 8pm Tickets: $97-$137 Bob Dylan, who kicks off the latest leg of his Never Ending Tour this weekend with two shows at the Borgata (June ...
In the 40 years since Bob Dylan "plugged in" for his notorious electric tour, it's become even more evident how that string of concerts affected the world of popular music. As author Ron Bowman notes...
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1. H. Bill Spiers said... on Apr 24, 2012 at 11:18AM
“I heard the editor of AC Weekly on Curtain Call radio show on Sunday talking about Levon and his history and links to this area - how cool, and how sad now that he's gone. But the music and memories will live forever! Rock N Roll Levon! RIP!”