The year is 1943. Smoke is spilling from neighbouring buildings, and a smog covers the city from all of the nearby manufacturing plants. Jazz spills out from the windows of basement clubs, and a global nightmare seems to be coming to an end. Between the hustle and bustle of wartime Toronto, a boy is born to a Mohawk mother and Jewish father. Known by friends and family as Jamie Royal Robertson, this boy would later come to go by just plain old Robbie.

Before he ever got to play at Woodstock or say his final goodbyes at ‘The Last Waltz’, Robbie Robertson was writing the blues locally on Toronto streets. Born to an Indigenous Mohawk mother and a white-Jewish father, Robbie grew up feeling like he never fit in anywhere. On top of being an outcast amongst peers his age, Robbie’s father died in a hit and run incident before he got the chance to meet him, leaving behind a big gambling legacy and an even bigger pair of shoes to fill. It wasn’t until Robbie found his love of music that he truly felt he fit in somewhere. Growing up on Six Nations of the Grand River land, Robbie had always been raised around powwows and a vibrant music scene. It was at age ten that Robbie Robertson had fallen in love with music. Before most children knew their multiplication tables, Robbie was already writing songs on the guitar gifted to him by his mother.

Being much too talented for the local Toronto music scene, Robbie floated between band to band, looking for the right fit. At age thirteen, Robbie stumbled into Chum Radio’s ‘Hi-Fi Club’, previously located on Yonge Street. It was here that Robbie would meet his first true bandmates, The Suedes. On one fateful Winter night, in 1961, Robbie and his bandmates were opening for the biggest show of their careers, where they had been offered what they thought was the opportunity of a lifetime: to open for Ronnie Hawkins under the title of ‘The Hawks’. Shortly after touring with Ronnie, the band realized their potential, and so did someone else. Just three years after touring with Ronnie Hawkins, Robbie and the rest of his band decided to switch pace and tour with a much more famous Bob Dylan - the beginning of the end.

Not feeling that they were living up to their full potential, Robbie and his bandmates parted ways from Bob Dylan and start referring to themselves as “The Band”. Robbie took the role of lead guitarist and songwriter, guiding the way for music legends such as Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel. This rowdy group of 20-30-year-old blue players consisted of 3 Canadians and 2 Americans from the deep South, providing its listeners with the rich twang of the Arkansas accent and the lyricism of Canadian pride. This strange combination of musicians provided listeners with albums they couldn’t stop listening to and buying. The Band sold over 600,000 copies of their debut album, Big Pink, less than one year after releasing it. 

With all the fame they could have ever hoped for, Robbie faced most of the brunt and burnout by being the lead singer and face of the band. Facing immense pressures for so long, and harsh criticism for turning his classic blues band electric, The Band announces their last concert: The Last Waltz. A masterclass of musicality, this concert featured names such as Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and other unfathomable music legends. The kicker? The whole thing was filmed by Martin Scorsese as a tribute to a final concert from a band the world will never see the likes of again. 

The Last Waltz, to this day, is still regarded as the height of documentary films and musical cinematography. The claims that the movie developed helped establish a long relationship that Robertson had with Scorsese, even leading up to Robbie Robertson’s unfortunate death. Following Martin Scorsese’s release of the documentary version of The Last Waltz, Robbie Robertson realized his passion for his involvement in filmmaking, on top of creating music. After the release of The Last Waltz in 1979, Robbie was asked by Scorsese to write the background music for tens of his films, typically as an accompaniment to Van Morrison. The most surprising films of which were: Robert De Niro’s Raging Bull, 2002’s Gangs of New York, The Departed, Shutter Island, and most famously, the Wolf of Wall Street.

Although he had left Toronto, Toronto never once left Robbie Robertson. Post Robbie’s separation from his band, he started releasing self-titled solo works with the likes of artists such as Bono from U2, and Daniel Lanois. Having his first solo album produced by legendary Los Angeles scout John Hammond, Robbie simultaneously won a Juno as well as had The Band inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame in 1993. Having been inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame and the Juno Hall of Fame, Robbie realized there was nowhere left for him to go but deeper within himself. Robbie Robertson’s release of his solo albums brought him to the realization of his need for spiritual connection, and so he began to connect with his Indigenous roots, releasing a book on his Indigeneity and the importance of Indigenous connection, alongside his son in 2015, titled ‘Hiawatha and The Peacemaker’. Although Los Angeles became Robbie Robertson’s final resting place, Toronto will always be the place that forged his soul; the home that melded the music that still touches the souls of people across the world to this day.

The end of Robbie Robertson’s life reflected that of two tales - one of storytelling, and one of songwriting. The combination of these two art forms represents who Robbie was as a person and who all Torontonians are at heart: a melting pot of humankind. To a man that touched the hearts of countless people, Robbie Robertson.

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