( CNN ) -- Levon Helm , the drummer , multi-instrumentalist and singer for The Band who kept the band 's heart for more than three decades , died `` peacefully '' Thursday afternoon , according to his record label , Vanguard Records . He was 71 . `` He was surrounded by family , friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul , '' the record label 's statement said . A statement from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , which inducted Helm in 1994 , called him the backbone of The Band . `` As a member of the one of the most influential rock and roll groups , The Band , Levon Helm produced music that was as much timeless as it was timely , '' it said . `` In the late 1960s and early 1970s when the country was divided , The Band still projected a sense of unity and brought generations of fans together from all over the world . '' Helm had a voice unlike any other in rock music : definitively Southern , soulful and gritty , an oak-barreled whiskey that sometimes went down with a fiery kick . He could be mournful , calling up ghosts , as he did in `` The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down '' and the half-chanted chorus of `` King Harvest ( Has Surely Come ) . '' He could be playful , as he was in `` Ophelia '' and `` The Weight , '' where in the latter he lunges into the `` Take a load off , Fanny '' chorus with joyful abandon . And he could belt in sheer pleasure , galloping through `` The W.S . Walcott Medicine Show '' or simply lending his unique harmonies to `` The Shape I 'm In '' and `` This Wheel 's on Fire . '' It was an American voice . Helm had been suffering from throat cancer . Despite reducing his voice to a rasp in recent years , it had not robbed him of his spirit . At his home in Woodstock , New York , he regularly hosted the Midnight Ramble , weekly concerts that attracted sell-out crowds and all-star support from the likes of Emmylou Harris , Kris Kristofferson and Steely Dan 's Donald Fagen . In the past decade , he recorded two albums , 2007 's `` Dirt Farmer '' and 2009 's `` Electric Dirt , '' that won Grammys . And he occasionally took the show on the road , making appearances at Tennessee 's Bonnaroo , the Newport Folk Festival and Los Angeles ' Greek Theater . Music , TV industries mourn Dick Clark . But Helm is best known for providing the vocals to such rock ' n ' roll standards as `` The Weight '' and `` The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down , '' the latter a tale of a Confederate veteran sizing up his wasted land . That song was credited to The Band 's primary songwriter , Robbie Robertson , who has said he was inspired by tales of the South from Helm and others . Certainly , there was never a doubt who would sing it : the Arkansas-born , Southern-mythologizing Helm . `` I aimed it right at him , I wrote it for him , he gets to say it all , '' Robertson told Rolling Stone in 1969 . Levon Helm was born Mark Lavon Helm in Elaine , Arkansas , on May 26 , 1940 , the son of a cotton farmer . He told CNN that he was inspired by `` the old traveling medicine tent shows '' that would make the rounds in the South . `` They had comedians and wine and music . Always a lot of music , '' he said in 2010 . After high school , he joined Ronnie Hawkins ' band , the Hawks . When the Hawks moved to Canada in the early '60s , Hawkins and Helm recruited several local musicians , including Robertson , Rick Danko , Richard Manuel and finally Garth Hudson . Hawkins left the band in 1963 , and the group renamed itself Levon and the Hawks . The next year the group met Bob Dylan , beginning one of rock 's great partnerships . The group , already known for its blazing live performances , ended up accompanying Dylan on his famous 1965-66 tours -- though Helm left by the end of 1965 , upset at the vicious reaction the newly electric Dylan was getting from audiences . Helm rejoined the Hawks in 1967 , playing on what became known as Dylan 's `` Basement Tapes . '' The group also wrote and recorded its own songs in the same place , a house called `` Big Pink '' in West Saugerties , New York . Renamed The Band , the group put out its debut album , `` Music from Big Pink , '' in 1968 , to rapturous reviews . `` Six months are left in this proselytizing year of music ... but I have chosen my album for 1968 . 'Music from Big Pink ' is an event and should be treated as one , '' wrote Al Kooper in his Rolling Stone review of the LP . The music was something new in American rock : both ancient and modern , rooted in the past and eschewing the psychedelic sounds then in vogue . The group , too , looked like something just emerged from a 19th century daguerreotype . And Dylan did the cover and wrote or co-wrote three of the songs . The next album , 1969 's `` The Band , '' earned them the January 12 , 1970 , cover of Time magazine , headlined `` The New Sound of Country Rock . '' The magazine 's artwork featured a menacing-looking Helm , bearded and hatted , looking every bit the American prophet he sometimes sounded . The group was , and remains , hugely influential ; the whole alt-country movement can trace at least some of its roots to The Band . ( Patterson Hood , the leader of the Drive-By Truckers , named one of his earlier groups `` Virgil Kane '' after the protagonist of `` The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down . '' ) Elton John and Bernie Taupin were huge fans , and their song `` Levon '' drew its character 's name from Helm . The Band put out several more albums , including `` Stage Fright , '' `` Cahoots '' and `` Moondog Matinee , '' but touring and internal dissension took their toll . In 1976 , the group decided to bow out with an all-star concert , `` The Last Waltz , '' filmed by Martin Scorsese and considered one of the great music concert documentaries . The tensions of the band were obvious on screen , and Helm in particular did n't hide his anger . In his 1993 autobiography , he talked about his disgust , as Greg Kot observed in a 2002 article on the film 's anniversary . `` As far as I was concerned , the movie was a disaster , '' Helm wrote in the book , `` This Wheel 's on Fire . '' He also disputed some of Robertson 's songwriting credits , though Robertson questioned Helm 's version . `` Who did the work ? I tried , I begged Levon to write songs or help me write songs -- all the guys . I always encouraged everybody to write , '' he told Kot . `` You ca n't make somebody do what they do n't want to do or ca n't do , and he 's not a songwriter . '' Robertson , in a statement sent to CNN Wednesday , said he was `` shocked and so saddened to hear that my old band mate , Levon , was in the final stages of his battle with cancer . It hit me really hard because I thought he had beaten throat cancer and had no idea that he was this ill. `` Levon is one of the most extraordinary talented people I 've ever known and very much like an older brother to me . I am so grateful I got to see him one last time and will miss him and love him forever , '' Robertson said . After the Band 's split , Helm recorded a handful of solo albums and toured with his old bandmates , minus Robertson . There were losses there , too : Manuel committed suicide in 1986 , and Danko passed away in 1999 . Helm occasionally played with other groups , notably Ringo Starr 's All-Starr Band . He also appeared in several movies , the best remembered of which is `` Coal Miner 's Daughter , '' which won Sissy Spacek an Oscar for her portrayal of country star Loretta Lynn . Helm had some hard times in the late '90s . His studio was hit with a fire . The throat cancer took his voice and medical bills threatened his house . He nearly declared bankruptcy . `` You got to pick one -- pay your medical bills or pay the mortgage . Most people ca n't do both , and I 'm not different , '' he told CNN . But the Ramble , intended as a one-off `` rent party , '' according to Helm , helped raise money and revived his career . `` If I had my way about it , we 'd probably do it every night , '' he said . `` I never get tired of it . '' Indeed , it seemed there was nothing he enjoyed more than playing music for a few friends . In 2008 , Helm received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award with The Band . He was n't present to receive it . He held a Midnight Ramble in Woodstock instead . People we 've lost in 2012 : The lives they lived .
Helm , the drummer , multi-instrumentalist and singer for The Band , is dead at 71 . He had been suffering from throat cancer . Helm is best known for providing the vocals to The Band 's rock ' n ' roll standards .