The Band

The Band started as the backing group for Ronnie Hawkins before joining up with Bob Dylan for his epic 1966 tour. The following year, while Dylan was recovering from a motorcycle accident, they shacked up with him in their Woodstock home and recorded the fabled 'Basement Tapes,' and their legend was sealed. Their debut album from 1968, 'Music From Big Pink,' is a rock classic; the follow-up album, simply titled 'The Band,' remains a cornerstone of rock Americana -- an astonishing feat considering four of the five members (Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko) are Canadian (drummer Levon Helms hails from Arkansas). After a series of successful albums on their own, they teamed up with Dylan in the mid-'70s for his No. 1 LP 'Planet Waves' and a successful tour. Manuel committed suicide in 1986, Danko died in 1999 from heart failure and Helm passed away in 2012 of cancer.

Jimmy Fallon Ends 'Late Night' By Singing 'The Weight' With The Muppets
Jimmy Fallon Ends 'Late Night' By Singing 'The Weight' With The Muppets
Ever since Bette Midler sang 'One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)' to Johnny Carson' in 1992, it's become a tradition for a concluding late-night television show to be sent off with a musical bang. Last night (Feb. 7), Jimmy Fallon said goodbye to 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' in his own way, singing the Band's 'The Weight' with some help from the Muppets.
Classic Photos of the Band Collected in New Book
Classic Photos of the Band Collected in New Book
One of the more distinctive rock bands of the '60s and '70s, the Band boasted a visual aesthetic every bit as striking as their music -- and now, a series of pictures taken by band photographer Elliott Landy for their first two albums is being collected into a book.

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