The Ghost Dance by the Oglala Lakota at Pine Ridge. Illustration by Frederic Remington, 1890.

The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah,^[1] also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the prophet Jack Wilson (Wovoka)'s teachings, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the dead and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to native peoples throughout the region.^[2] The basis for the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, is a traditional ritual which has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times, but this new form was first practiced among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. This process often created change in both the society that integrated it, and in the ritual itself.

The chief figure in the movement was the prophet of peace, Jack Wilson, known as Wovoka among the Paiute. He prophesied a peaceful end to white expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance. In the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, U.S. Army forces killed at least 153 Lakota Sioux.^[3] The Sioux variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Sioux interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today.^[4]

Historical foundations[link]

Paiute background[link]

Cyperus esculentas

The Northern Paiutes living in Mason Valley, in what is now the U.S. state of Nevada, were known collectively as the Tövusi-dökadö (Tövusi-: "Cyperus bulb" and dökadö: "eaters") at the time of European-American settlement. The Northern Paiute community thrived upon a subsistence pattern of foraging and augmenting their diets with fish, pine nuts, and wild game.

The Tövusi-dökadö lacked any permanent political organization or officials. They followed self-proclaimed spiritually blessed individuals who organized events or activities for the betterment of the group as a whole. Community events centered on the observance of a ritual at a prescribed time of year or were intended to organize activities like harvests or hunting parties. In 1869, Hawthorne Wodziwob, a Paiute man, organized a series of community dances to announce his vision. He spoke of a journey to the land of the dead and of promises made to him by the souls of the recently deceased. They promised to return to their loved ones within a period of 3–4 years.^[5]

Wodziwob's peers accepted this vision, probably due to his already reputable status as a healer, as he urged the populace to dance the common circle dance as was customary during a time of festival. He continued preaching this message for three years with the help of a local "weather doctor" named Tavibo, the father of Jack Wilson.^[5]

Prior to Wodziwob's religious movement, a devastating typhoid epidemic struck in 1867. This and other European diseases killed approximately one-tenth of the total population,^[6] resulting in widespread psychological and emotional trauma. The disruption brought disorder to the economic system and society. Many families were prevented from continuing their nomadic lifestyle. Left with few options, many families ended up in Virginia City seeking employment for wages.

Round dance precursors[link]

Referred to as the "round dance", this ritual form characteristically includes a circular community dance held around an individual who leads the ceremony. It was used in many community rituals. Often accompanying the ritual are intermissions of trance, exhortations and prophesying.

The anthropologist Leslie Spier used the term "prophet dances" to describe this kind of ritual during his studies of the Pacific Northwest tribes. He studied peoples of the Columbia plateau (a region including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of western Montana). As Spier's study was conducted at a time when most of these rituals had already incorporated Christian elements, investigation of the round dance's origin was complicated.

Enculturation and diffusion are not the only explanations for the common circle dance rituals. Anthropologist James Mooney was one of the first to study the circle dance. He observed striking similarities in many Native American rituals. However, he also claimed that "a hope and longing common to all humanity, manifests through behavior rooted in human physiology and common experience", therefore alluding to either the notion of universal imprints on the human mind or to ubiquitous behaviors drawn from universal life courses that led to the ritual form.^{[citation needed]}

Jack Wilson's vision[link]

Wovoka—Paiute spiritual leader and creator of the Ghost Dance

Jack Wilson, the prophet formerly known as Wovoka, was believed to have had a vision during a solar eclipse on January 1, 1889. It was reportedly not his first time experiencing a vision directly from God; but as a young adult, he claimed that he was then better equipped, spiritually, to handle this message. Jack had received training from an experienced holy man under his parents' guidance after they realized that he was having difficulty interpreting his previous visions. Jack was also training to be a "weather doctor", following in his father's footsteps. He was known throughout Mason Valley as a gifted and blessed young leader. Preaching a message of universal love, he often presided over circle dances, which symbolized the sun's heavenly path across the sky.

Anthropologist James Mooney conducted an interview with Wilson in 1892. Mooney confirmed that his message matched that given to his fellow aboriginal Americans.^[2] This study compared letters between tribes. Wilson said he stood before God in heaven and had seen many of his ancestors engaged in their favorite pastimes. God showed Wilson a beautiful land filled with wild game and instructed him to return home to tell his people that they must love each other, not fight, and live in peace with the whites. God also stated that the people must work, not steal or lie, and that they must not engage in the old practices of war or the traditional self-mutilation practices connected with mourning the dead. God said that if his people abided by these rules, they would be united with their friends and family in the other world.

In God's presence, there would be no sickness, disease, or old age. Wilson was given the Ghost Dance and commanded to take it back to his people. He preached that if the five-day dance was performed in the proper intervals, the performers would secure their happiness and hasten the reunion of the living and deceased. Wilson said that God gave him powers over the weather and that he would be the deputy in charge of affairs in the western United States, leaving current President Harrison as God's deputy in the East. Jack claims that he was then told to return home and preach God's message.^[2]

Jack Wilson claimed to have left the presence of God convinced that if every Indian in the West danced the new dance to "hasten the event", all evil in the world would be swept away, leaving a renewed Earth filled with food, love, and faith. Quickly accepted by his Paiute brethren, the new religion was termed "Dance In A Circle". Because the first European contact with the practice came by way of the Sioux, their expression Spirit Dance was adopted as a descriptive title for all such practices. This was subsequently translated as "Ghost Dance".^[2]

Role in Wounded Knee Massacre[link]

Through Native Americans and some Anglo-Americans, Wilson's message spread across much of the western portion of the United States. Early in the religious movement, many tribes sent members to investigate the self-proclaimed prophet, while other communities sent delegates only to be cordial. Regardless of their initial motivations, many left as believers and returned to their homeland preaching his message. The Ghost Dance was also investigated by many Mormons from Utah, for whom the concepts of the Native American prophet were familiar and often accepted.^[7] While most followers of the Ghost Dance understood Wovoka's role as being that of a teacher of pacifism and peace, others did not.

An elaboration of the Ghost Dance concept was the development of Ghost Shirts, which were special garments which warriors could wear. They were rumored to repel bullets through spiritual power. It is uncertain where this belief originated. James Mooney argued that the most likely source is the Mormon "endowment garment" (which Mormons believe protect the pious wearer from evil). Scholars believe that in 1890 chief Kicking Bear introduced the concept to his people, the Lakota Sioux.^[8]

The Lakota interpretation drew from their traditional idea of a "renewed Earth" in which "all evil is washed away". This Lakota interpretation included the removal of all Anglo-Americans from their lands. In contrast, Wilson's version encouraged harmonious co-existence with European Americans.

In February 1890, the United States government broke a Lakota treaty by adjusting the Great Sioux Reservation of South Dakota (an area that formerly encompassed the majority of the state) and breaking it up into five smaller reservations.^[9] The government was accommodating white homesteaders from the eastern United States; in addition, it intended to "break up tribal relationships" and "conform Indians to the white man's ways, peaceably if they will, or forcibly if they must."^[10] On the reduced reservations, the government allocated family units on 320-acre (1.3 km²) plots for individual households. The Lakota were expected to farm and raise livestock, and they were encouraged to send their children to boarding schools. With the goal of assimilation, the schools taught English and Christianity, as well as European-American cultural practices. Generally, they forbade inclusion of Native American traditional culture and language.

To help support the Sioux during the period of transition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was to supplement the Sioux with food and to hire white farmers as teachers for the people. The farming plan failed to take into account the difficulty which Sioux farmers would have in trying to cultivate crops in the semi-arid region of South Dakota. By the end of the 1890 growing season, a time of intense heat and low rainfall, it was clear that the land was unable to produce substantial agricultural yields. Unfortunately, this was also the time when the government's patience with supporting the so-called "lazy Indians" ran out. They cut rations for the Sioux in half. With the bison having been virtually eradicated a few years earlier, the Sioux were at risk of starvation.

The people turned to the Ghost Dance ritual, which frightened the supervising agents of the BIA. Kicking Bear was forced to leave Standing Rock, but when the dances continued unabated, Agent McLaughlin asked for more troops. He claimed the Hunkpapa spiritual leader Sitting Bull was the real leader of the movement. A former agent, Valentine McGillycuddy, saw nothing extraordinary in the dances and ridiculed the panic that seemed to have overcome the agencies, saying: "The coming of the troops has frightened the Indians. If the Seventh-Day Adventists prepare the ascension robes for the Second Coming of the Savior, the United States Army is not put in motion to prevent them. Why should not the Indians have the same privilege? If the troops remain, trouble is sure to come."^[11]

Nonetheless, thousands of additional U.S. Army troops were deployed to the reservation. On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was arrested for failing to stop his people from practicing the Ghost Dance.^[12] During the incident, one of Sitting Bull's men, Catch the Bear, fired at Lieutenant "Bull Head," striking his right side. He instantly wheeled and shot Sitting Bull, hitting him in the left side, between the tenth and eleventh ribs;^[13] this exchange resulted in deaths on both sides, including that of Sitting Bull.

Big Foot, also known as Spotted Elk, was a Miniconjou leader on the U.S. Army's list of "trouble-making" Indians. He was stopped while en route to convene with the remaining Sioux chiefs. U.S. Army officers forced him to relocate with his people to a small camp close to the Pine Ridge Agency. Here the soldiers could more closely watch the old chief. That evening, December 28, the small band of Sioux erected their tipis on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. The following day, during an attempt by the officers to collect weapons from the band, one young, deaf Sioux warrior refused to relinquish his arms. A struggle followed in which somebody's weapon discharged into the air. One U.S. officer gave the command to open fire, and the Sioux responded by taking up previously confiscated weapons; the U.S. forces responded with carbine firearms and several rapid-fire light-artillery (Hotchkiss) guns mounted on the overlooking hill. When the fighting had concluded, 25 U.S. soldiers lay dead, many killed by friendly fire. Amongst the 153 dead Sioux, most were women and children.^[14] Following the massacre, chief Kicking Bear officially surrendered his weapon to General Nelson A. Miles.

Outrage in the eastern United States emerged as the public learned about the events that had transpired. The U.S. government had insisted on numerous occasions that the Native American had already been successfully pacified. Many Americans felt the U.S. Army actions were harsh; some related the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek to the "ungentlemanly act of kicking a man when he is already down." Public uproar played a role in the reinstatement of the previous treaty's terms, including full rations and more monetary compensation for lands taken away.

Twenty U.S. soldiers received Medals of Honor for their actions.^[15][16][17] American Indian and human rights activists have referred to these as "Medals of Dis-Honor" and called for the awards to be rescinded, but none of them have ever been revoked.^{[16][18][19][20]}

Relevant anthropological theory[link]

Religious revitalization model[link]

Anthropologist Anthony F. C. Wallace's model (1956) describes the process of a revitalization movement. It is derived from studies of another Native American religious movement, The Code of Handsome Lake, which may have led to the formation of the Longhouse Religion.

• I. Period of generally satisfactory adaptation to a group's social and natural environment.

• II. Period of increased individual stress. While the group as a whole is able to survive through its accustomed cultural behavior, changes in the social or natural environment frustrate efforts of many people to obtain normal satisfactions of their needs.

• III. Period of cultural distortion. Changes in the group's social or natural environment drastically reduce the capacity of accustomed cultural behavior to satisfy most persons' physical and emotional needs.

• IV. Period of revitalization: (1) reformulation of the cultural pattern; (2) its communication; (3) organization of a reformulated cultural pattern; (4) adaptation of the reformulated pattern to better meet the needs and preferences of the group; (5) cultural transformation; (6) routinization-the adapted reformulated cultural pattern becomes the standard cultural behavior for the group.

• V. New period of generally satisfactory adaptation to the group's changed social and/or natural environment.^{[citation needed]}

Ghost Dance within revitalization model[link]

In Alice Beck Kehoe's ethnohistory of the Ghost Dance, she presents the movement within the framework of Wallace's model of religious revitalization. The Tövusi-dökadö's age of traditional subsistence patterns constitutes a period of generally satisfactory cultural adaptation to their environment, which lasted until around 1860. Corresponding with an influx of white settlers begins the second phase of Wallace's model, hallmarked by increased individual stress placed on some members of the community. Almost the entire 1880s are placed into the model's third period, that of cultural distortion, due to the increased presence of white agribusiness and the United States government. With the introduction of Jack Wilson's Ghost Dance, the fourth period of revitalization is ushered, which characteristically occurs after sufficient changes accrue to significantly warp the society's cultural pattern. Following the revitalization is yet another period of satisfactory adaptation, which is dated to about 1900. By this time, almost all sources of traditional food were eradicated from the Tövusi-dökadö's long-established homeland, leading to the adoption of white American subsistence methods while still maintaining a Paiute culture.

Reason for rejection[link]

Navajo leaders described the Ghost Dance as "worthless words" in 1890.^[14] Three years later, James Mooney arrived at the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona during his study of the Ghost Dance movement. He found that the Navajo never incorporated the ritual into their society.

Kehoe believed that the movement did not gain adherence due to the Navajo's higher levels of social and economic satisfaction at that time. Another factor was that they had a different culture. Theirs inculcated a fear of ghosts and spirits, based in their own particular religious beliefs.

See also[link]

• Catherine Weldon
• Medicine man
• Nongqawuse
• Nemattanew

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Andersson, Rani-Henrik. The Lakota Ghost Dance of 1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8032-1073-8.
• Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8050-6669-2.
• Du Bois, Cora. The 1870 Ghost Dance. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-6662-9.
• Kehoe, Alice Beck. The Ghost Dance: Ethnohistory and Revitalization. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1-57766-453-6.
• Osterreich, Shelley Anne. The American Indian Ghost Dance, 1870 and 1890. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0-313-27469-5.
• Stannard, David E. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-19-508557-0.

External links[link]

• Ghostdance.us
• Wovoka (Jack Wilson)
• Speech by Kicking Bear
• Short video about Wovoka and the Ghost Dance on YouTube.com
• Sheet music for a Ghost Dance Song (German)
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Ghost Dance Religion

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson performing on stage at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Jaime Royal Robertson
Born	(1943-07-05) July 5, 1943 (age 68) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Rock, country rock, rhythm and blues
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, creative executive, actor
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, piano, bass, harmonica, autoharp, melodica
Years active	1960–present
Labels	Capitol, Geffen, Warner, 429
Associated acts	The Band, Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks, Bob Dylan, John Hammond Jr.
Website	robbie-robertson.com

Robbie Robertson, (born Jaime Royal Robertson, July 5, 1943)^[1] OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band.^[2] He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.^[3] The Band has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame^[4] and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.^[5] As a songwriter Robertson is responsible for such classics as "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Up On Cripple Creek", "Broken Arrow" and "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[6]

Early life[link]

Robertson was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada^[7] to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother. He had his earliest exposure to music at Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, where he spent summers with his mother's family.

By 1958, Robertson was performing in various groups around Toronto, including Little Caesar and the Consuls, Robbie and the Robots, and Thumper and the Trambones. By 1959 he had met singer Ronnie Hawkins, who led a band called The Hawks. In 1960 Hawkins recorded two early Robertson songs, "Hey Boba Lu" and "Someone Like You" on his Mr. Dynamo LP. Robertson then took over lead guitar with The Hawks and toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963. Robertson's skill on his instrument continued to increase, leading Howard Sounes to write, "By twenty-two, he was a guitar virtuoso."^[8]

After Robertson left Ronnie Hawkins, along with Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson, the quintet styled themselves Levon and the Hawks,^[9] but, after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers, as well as the Canadian Squires—a name the record label called them and that they immediately hated—they ultimately called themselves The Band.

The Band[link]

Robertson performing with The Band. Hamburg, Germany, May 1971.

Bob Dylan hired The Hawks for his famed, controversial tour of 1966, his first wide exposure as an electrified rock and roll performer rather than his earlier acoustic folk sound. Robertson's distinctive guitar sound was an important part of the music; Dylan famously praised him as "the only mathematical guitar genius I’ve ever run into who doesn’t offend my intestinal nervousness with his rearguard sound." Robertson appears as one of the guitarists on Dylan's 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.^[10]

From their first albums, Music from Big Pink (1968), and The Band (1969), The Band was praised as one of rock music's preeminent groups. Rolling Stone magazine praised The Band and gave its music extensive coverage. Robertson sang only a few songs with The Band, but was the group's primary songwriter, and was in the later years of the Band often seen as the de facto bandleader.

In 1976, The Band began to break up due to the stresses of sixteen years of touring. In the Martin Scorsese film The Last Waltz (1978) The Band played their final concert with the help of their friends and influences, Ronnie Hawkins, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Ron Wood, and Ringo Starr.

After The Band[link]

Early solo career[link]

Robertson produced Neil Diamond's albums Beautiful Noise in 1976 and Love at the Greek (live) in 1977.^[1]

Between 1979 and 1980 Robertson co-starred with Gary Busey and Jodie Foster in Carny. He also co-wrote, produced, and composed source music for the film. For Scorsese's Raging Bull, Robertson created background music and produced source music.^[1]

For another Scorsese film, The King of Comedy (released in 1983), Robertson served as music producer and also contributed with his first post-Band solo recording, "Between Trains." Additionally, he produced and played guitar on Van Morrison's song "Wonderful Remark".^[1] Robertson signed via A&R executive Gary Gersh for his debut solo album on Geffen Records. Robertson recorded with producer (and fellow Canadian) Daniel Lanois.^[1] He also scored Scorsese's The Color of Money (1986), working with Gil Evans and Willie Dixon and co-wrote "It's In the Way That You Use It" with Eric Clapton.^[1]

Robertson was enlisted as creative consultant for Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (1987), Taylor Hackford's film saluting Chuck Berry. Wherein he interviewed Chuck Berry and played guitar while Chuck recited some poetry.

Solo albums[link]

From 1987 onwards, Robertson has released five solo albums. The first was self titled followed by Storyville, Music for the Native Americans and Contact from the Underworld of Redboy.^[11] In 1990, he contributed to Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto's album Beauty. Robertson's song "Broken Arrow", off the Robbie Robertson album, was covered by Rod Stewart on his album Vagabond Heart and became a hit single. "Broken Arrow" was also a part of the Grateful Dead's rotation of live songs 1993–95 (sung by bassist Phil Lesh), and later with Phil Lesh and Friends. The song "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", became Robertson's biggest solo hit.

In 1994, Robertson returned to his roots, forming a Native American group the Red Road Ensemble for Music for The Native Americans, a collection of songs that accompanied a television documentary series.

Also in 1994, Robertson joined Garth Hudson, Rick Danko and inductor Eric Clapton onstage to perform "The Weight" when The Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

How To Become Clairvoyant was released on April 5, 2011 and is the fifth solo release from Robertson. It features Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Trent Reznor, Tom Morello, Robert Randolph, Rocco Deluca, Angela McCluskey, and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. Pino Palladino, and Ian Thomas are the rhythm section. Robbie performed "He Don't Live Here No More" on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman and ABC's The View in support of the album, with the band, Dawes, and solo artist, Jonathan Wilson. The album was also released in a de luxe edition containing five bonus tracks (four demos and the exclusive track Houdini, named after the magician).

Later career[link]

Robertson during a March, 2011 radio interview

In 1995, in Rome, Robertson headlined an annual Labour Day concert festival with support acts Andrea Bocelli, Elvis Costello, and Radiohead. In 1996, Executive soundtrack producer Robertson heard a demo of Change The World and sent it to Clapton as a suggestion for the soundtrack to Phenomenon, starring John Travolta. Babyface produced the track. Change the World won 1997 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

In 1997, Robertson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters.

In 2000, David Geffen and Mo Ostin convinced Robertson to join DreamWorks Records as creative executive. Robertson, who persuaded Nelly Furtado to sign with the company, is actively involved with film projects and developing new artist talent, including signings of A.i., Boomkat, eastmountainsouth, and Dana Glover.

On February 9, 2002, Robertson performed "Stomp Dance (Unity)" as part of the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Robertson served as music supervisor on the Martin Scorsese film Gangs Of New York.

At the 2003 commencement ceremonies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Robertson delivered an address to the graduating class and was awarded an honorary degree by the university.

Robbie Robertson's star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

In 2003, Robertson was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.^[12]

In 2004, Robertson contributed the song "Shine Your Light" to the Ladder 49 soundtrack.

In 2005, Robertson is the executive producer on the definitive box set for The Band entitled A Musical History.

In 2006, Robertson recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis and Samuel Bidleman on Last Man Standing on the track "Twilight". That same year, he received the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.^[13] He also produced the soundtrack for the Scorsese film, The Departed.

On July 28, 2007, at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in Bridgeview, Illinois, Robertson made a rare live appearance. Also in 2007, Robertson accepted an invitation to participate in Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard). With the group Galactic, Robertson contributed his version of Domino's "Goin' To The River".

In 2008, Robertson and The Band received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2010, Robertson provided music supervision for another Scorsese film, Shutter Island.

On May 27, 2011, Robertson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston.^[14][15]

Martin Scorsese[link]

Martin Scorsese was hired to direct The Last Waltz based on his use of music in Mean Streets. The two were housemates during the editing of The Last Waltz and became friends. Robertson went on to compose the musical score for his 1980 film Raging Bull, and in the years since the two have been frequent collaborators. Robertson would later work on Scorsese's movies The King of Comedy, The Color of Money, Casino, The Departed, Gangs of New York, and provided music supervision for Shutter Island.

Personal life[link]

In 1967 Robertson married Dominique Bourgeois, a Canadian journalist. They are now divorced.^[16] Together they have three children: daughters Alexandra and Delphine, and son Sebastian.

Discography[link]

Albums with The Band[link]

• 1968 Music from Big Pink
• 1969 The Band
• 1970 Stage Fright
• 1971 Cahoots
• 1972 Rock of Ages
• 1973 Moondog Matinee
• 1975 Northern Lights - Southern Cross
• 1977 Islands
• 1978 The Last Waltz
• 1995 Live at Watkins Glen

Albums with Bob Dylan and The Band[link]

• 1966 Blonde on Blonde
• 1970 Self Portrait
• 1974 Planet Waves
• 1974 Before the Flood
• 1975 The Basement Tapes
• 1998 The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert

Solo recordings[link]

• 1987 Robbie Robertson
• 1991 Storyville
• 1994 Music for The Native Americans
• 1998 Contact from the Underworld of Redboy^[11]
• 2011 How to Become Clairvoyant^[17] (US No. 13, UK #56)^[18]

Film credits[link]

Robertson is credited in the following films:

• 1978 The Last Waltz (performer/producer)
• 1980 Carny (actor/writer/producer/composer)
• 1980 Raging Bull (music producer)
• 1983 The King of Comedy (music producer)
• 1986 The Color of Money (songs and score)
• 1994 Jimmy Hollywood (songs and score)
• 1995 Casino (music consultant)
• 1995 The Crossing Guard (actor – Roger)
• 1996 Phenomenon (executive soundtrack producer/composer)
• 1996 Dakota Exile (narrator)
• 1999 Forces of Nature (creative music consultant)
• 1999 Wolves (narrator)
• 1999 Any Given Sunday (songs and score)
• 2001 The Life and Times of Robbie Robertson
• 2002 Gangs of New York (executive music producer)
• 2002 Skins (film) (writer)
• 2004 Jenifa (executive producer)
• 2004 Ladder 49 (original song Shine Your Light)
• 2006 The Departed (music producer)
• 2007 Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 (performer)
• 2008 Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood (actor)
• 2009 Shutter Island (music supervisor)

See also[link]

• Notable Aboriginal people of Canada

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robbie Robertson

• Official website

Patti Smith
Tivolis Koncertsal, Copenhagen, October 6, 1976
Background information
Birth name	Patricia Lee Smith
Born	(1946-12-30) December 30, 1946 (age 65) Chicago, Illinois, USA
Origin	New York City, New York
Genres	Protopunk, punk rock, art rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, poet, artist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, clarinet
Years active	1971–present
Labels	Arista, Columbia
Associated acts	Tom Verlaine
Website	www.pattismith.net

Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith (born December 30, 1946)^[1] is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses.^[2]

Called the "Godmother of Punk",^[3] her work was a fusion of rock and poetry. Smith's most widely known song is "Because the Night", which was co-written with Bruce Springsteen and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978.^[2] In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture,^[4] and in 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[5] On November 17, 2010, she won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids.^[6] She is also a recipient of the 2011 Polar Music Prize.

Life and career[link]

1946–1973: Early life[link]

Patricia Lee Smith was born in Chicago.^[1] Her mother, Beverly, was a waitress, and her father, Grant, worked at the Honeywell plant. She spent her early childhood in Germantown ^[7], before her family moved to Woodbury Gardens, Deptford Township, New Jersey,^[8][9] raised Jehovah's Witness. She had a strong religious upbringing and a Bible education, but left organized religion as a teenager because she felt it was too confining; much later, she wrote the line "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" in her cover version of Them's "Gloria" in response to this experience.^[10] She has described having an avid interest in Tibetan Buddhism around the age of eleven or twelve, saying "I fell in love with Tibet because their essential mission was to keep a continual stream of prayer", but that as an adult she sees clear parallels between different forms of religion, and has come to the conclusion that religious dogmas are "...man-made laws that you can either decide to abide by or not."^[11] At this early age Smith was exposed to her first records, including Shrimp Boats by Harry Belafonte, Patience and Prudence doing The Money Tree, and Another Side of Bob Dylan, which her mother gave to her. ^[12] Smith graduated from Deptford Township High School in 1964 and went to work in a factory.^[2][13] She gave birth to her first child, a daughter, on April 26, 1967, and chose to place her for adoption.^[13]

1967–1973: New York[link]

In 1967, she left Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) and moved to New York City. She met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe there while working at a book store with a friend, poet Janet Hamill. She and Mapplethorpe had an intense romantic relationship, which was tumultuous as the pair struggled with times of poverty, and Mapplethorpe with his own sexuality. Smith considers Mapplethorpe to be one of the most important people in her life, and in her book Just Kids refers to him as "the artist of my life". Mapplethorpe's photographs of her became the covers for the Patti Smith Group LPs, and they remained friends until Mapplethorpe's death in 1989.^[14] In 1969 she went to Paris with her sister and started busking and doing performance art.^[8] When Smith returned to New York City, she lived in the Hotel Chelsea with Mapplethorpe; they frequented Max's Kansas City and CBGB. Smith provided the spoken word soundtrack for Sandy Daley's art film Robert Having His Nipple Pierced, starring Mapplethorpe. The same year Smith appeared with Wayne County in Jackie Curtis' play Femme Fatale. As a member of the St. Mark's Poetry Project, she spent the early 70's painting, writing, and performing. In 1971 she performed – for one night only – in Cowboy Mouth,^[15] a play that she co-wrote with Sam Shepard. (The published play's notes call for "a man who looks like a coyote and a woman who looks like a crow".) She wrote several poems, "for sam shepard"^[16] and "Sam Shepard: 9 Random Years (7 + 2)"^[17] about her relationship with Shepard.

Smith was briefly considered for the lead singer position in Blue Öyster Cult. She contributed lyrics to several of the band's songs, including "Debbie Denise" (inspired by her poem "In Remembrance of Debbie Denise"), "Baby Ice Dog", "Career of Evil", "Fire of Unknown Origin", "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" (on which she performs duet vocals), and "Shooting Shark". She was romantically involved at the time with the band's keyboardist Allen Lanier. During these years, Smith also wrote rock journalism, some of which was published in Rolling Stone and Creem.^[18]

1974–1979: Patti Smith Group[link]

Smith performing with the Patti Smith Group, in Germany, 1978

By 1974, Patti Smith was performing rock music herself, initially with guitarist, bassist and rock archivist Lenny Kaye, and later with a full band comprising Kaye, Ivan Kral on guitar and bass, Jay Dee Daugherty on drums and Richard Sohl on piano. Ivan Kral was a refugee from Czechoslovakia, fleeing in 1968 after the fall of Alexander Dubček. Financed by Sam Wagstaff, the band recorded a first single, "Hey Joe / Piss Factory", in 1974. The A-side was a version of the rock standard with the addition of a spoken word piece about fugitive heiress Patty Hearst ("Patty Hearst, you're standing there in front of the Symbionese Liberation Army flag with your legs spread, I was wondering were you gettin' it every night from a black revolutionary man and his women...").^[19] The B-side describes the helpless anger Smith had felt while working on a factory assembly line and the salvation she discovered in the form of a shoplifted book, the 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations.^[2]

	"Gloria" noicon "Because the Night" noicon "Dancing Barefoot" noicon
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The Patti Smith Group was signed by Clive Davis of Arista Records, and in 1975 recorded their first album, Horses, produced by John Cale amid some tension. The album fused punk rock and spoken poetry and begins with a cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria", and Smith's opening words: "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" (an excerpt from "Oath," one of her early poems). The austere cover photograph by Mapplethorpe has become one of rock's classic images.^[20] As the popularity of punk rock grew, Patti Smith Group toured the United States and Europe. The rawer sound of the group's second album, Radio Ethiopia, reflected this. Considerably less accessible than Horses, Radio Ethiopia initially received poor reviews. However, several of its songs have stood the test of time, and Smith still performs them regularly in concert.^[21] She has said that Radio Ethiopia was influenced by the band MC5. ^[12]

On January 23, 1977, while touring in support of Radio Ethiopia, Smith accidentally danced off a high stage in Tampa, Florida, and fell 15 feet into a concrete orchestra pit, breaking several neck vertebrae.^[22] The injury required a period of rest and an intensive round of physical therapy, during which time she was able to reassess, re-energize and reorganize her life. Patti Smith Group produced two further albums before the end of the 1970s. Easter (1978) was her most commercially successful record, containing the single "Because the Night" co-written with Bruce Springsteen. Wave (1979) was less successful, although the songs "Frederick" and "Dancing Barefoot" both received commercial airplay.^[23]

It was around this time Mick Jagger uttered his famous quote about her^[24]:

"I think it's crap! I think she's so awful...she's full of rubbish, she's full of words and crap. I mean, she's a poseur of the worst kind, intellectual bullshit, trying to be a street girl when she doesn't seem to me to be one, I mean, everything...a useless guitar player, a bad singer, not attractive. She's got her heart in the right place but she's such a POSER! She's not really together musically, she's...all right.

Patti Smith also has had other artists comment about her. Flo and Eddie did a part in their act where they suggested she used Industrial Strength Janitor in a Drum as a feminine-hygiene spray.^[25] Southside Johnny was heard to shout: "She tries too hard!" at a party once. ^[25]

She's never directly replied but in later years her interest in the Stones seems to have waned. When asked if she still listened to the Rolling Stones, she replied^[26]

Not as much as I used to. If I'm somewhere and hear a Rolling Stones song come over the radio, it's still exciting. I don't sit around listening to them. I listen to a lot of opera records. A lot of Glenn Gould. If I'm in a car, and the Rolling Stones, you know -- "Gimmie Shelter" or "Under My Thumb," and something comes on and it's "19th Nervous Breakdown" - it's still exciting.

1980–1995: Marriage[link]

	"People Have the Power" noicon
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Smith with her daughter Jesse Smith at the 2011 Time 100 gala

Before the release of Wave, Smith, now separated from long-time partner Allen Lanier, met Fred "Sonic" Smith, former guitar player for Detroit rock band MC5 and his own Sonic's Rendezvous Band, who adored poetry as much as she did. (Wave's "Dancing Barefoot" and "Frederick" were both dedicated to him.)^[27] The running joke at the time was that she married Fred only because she would not have to change her name.^[28] They had a son, Jackson (b. 1982) who would go on to marry The White Stripes drummer, Meg White in 2009^{[citation needed]}; and a daughter, Jesse (b. 1987). Through most of the 1980s Patti Smith was in semi-retirement from music, living with her family north of Detroit in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. In June 1988, she released the album Dream of Life, which included the song "People Have the Power". Fred Smith died on November 4, 1994, of a heart attack. Shortly afterward, Patti faced the unexpected death of her brother Todd^[8] and original keyboard player Richard Sohl. When her son Jackson turned 14, Smith decided to move back to New York. After the impact of these deaths, her friends Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and Allen Ginsberg (whom she had known since her early years in New York) urged her to go back out on the road. She toured briefly with Bob Dylan in December 1995 (chronicled in a book of photographs by Stipe).^[15]

1996–2003: Re-emergence[link]

	"Summer Cannibals" noicon
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In 1996, Smith worked with her long-time colleagues to record Gone Again, featuring "About a Boy", a tribute to Kurt Cobain. Smith was a fan of Cobain, but was more angered than saddened by his suicide.^{[citation needed]} That same year she collaborated with Stipe on "E-Bow the Letter", a song on R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which she has also performed live with the band.^[29] After release of Gone Again, Patti Smith had recorded two new albums: Peace and Noise in 1997 (with the single "1959", about the invasion of Tibet) and Gung Ho in 2000 (with songs about Ho Chi Minh and Smith's late father). Songs "1959" and "Glitter in Their Eyes" were nominated for Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.^[30] A box set of her work up to that time, The Patti Smith Masters, came out in 1996, and 2002 saw the release of Land (1975–2002), a two-CD compilation that includes a memorable cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry". Smith's solo art exhibition Strange Messenger was hosted at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh on September 28, 2002.^[31]

2004–present[link]

	"Jubilee" noicon
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On April 27, 2004, Patti Smith released Trampin' which included several songs about motherhood, partly in tribute to Smith's mother, who had died two years before. It was her first album on Columbia Records, soon to become a sister label to her previous home Arista Records. Smith curated the Meltdown festival in London on June 25, 2005, the penultimate event being the first live performance of Horses in its entirety.^[32] Guitarist Tom Verlaine took Oliver Ray's place. This live performance was released later in the year as Horses/Horses.

TIM festival, Marina da Glória,
Rio de Janeiro, October 28, 2006

On July 10, 2005, Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.^[4] In addition to Smith's influence on rock music, the Minister also noted her appreciation of Arthur Rimbaud. In August 2005, Smith gave a literary lecture about the poems of Arthur Rimbaud and William Blake. On October 15, 2006, Patti Smith performed at the CBGB nightclub, with a 3½-hour tour de force to close out Manhattan's music venue. She took the stage at 9:30 p.m. (EDT) and closed for the night (and forever for the venue) at a few minutes after 1:00 a.m., performing her song "Elegie", and finally reading a list of punk rock musicians and advocates who had died in the previous years.^[33]

On November 10, 2005, Smith received the Woman of Valor Award from ROCKRGRL Magazine at the ROCKRGRL Music Conference, marking the 30th Anniversary of the release of "Horses."

Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007.^[5] She dedicated her award to the memory of her late husband, Fred, and gave a performance of The Rolling Stones staple "Gimme Shelter". As the closing number of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Smith's "People Have the Power" was used for the big celebrity jam that always ends the program.^[34]
From November 2006 - January 2007, an exhibition called 'Sur les Traces'^[35] at Trolley Gallery, London, featured polaroid prints taken by Patti Smith and donated to Trolley to raise awareness and funds for the publication of Double Blind, a book on the war in Lebanon in 2006, with photographs by Paolo Pellegrin, a member of Magnum Photos. She also participated in the DVD commentary for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. From March 28 to June 22, 2008, the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris hosted a major exhibition of the visual artwork of Patti Smith, Land 250, drawn from pieces created between 1967 and 2007.^[36] At the 2008 Rowan Commencement ceremony, Smith received an honorary doctorate degree for her contributions to popular culture.

Smith with National Book Critics Circle President Jane Ciabattari and NBCC board member John Reed. Smith's memoir Just Kids was an NBCC autobiography finalist at the 2010 awards.^[37]

Smith is the subject of a 2008 documentary film, Patti Smith: Dream of Life.^[38] A live album by Patti Smith and Kevin Shields, The Coral Sea was released in July 2008. On September 10, 2009, after a week of smaller events and exhibitions in the city, Smith played an open-air concert in Florence's Piazza Santa Croce, commemorating her performance in the same city 30 years earlier.^[39] In 2010, Patti Smith's book, Just Kids, a memoir of her time in 1970s Manhattan and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, was published; it later won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.^[6][40] On April 30, 2010, Patti Smith headlined a benefit concert headed by band-mate Tony Shanahan, for The Court Tavern of New Brunswick.^[41] Smith's set included "Gloria", "Because the Night" and "People Have the Power." She has a brief cameo in Jean-Luc Godard's 2010 Film Socialisme, which was first screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ^[42]

On May 17, 2010, Patti Smith received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Pratt Institute, along with architect Daniel Libeskind, MoMA director Glenn Lowry, former NYC Landmarks Commissioner Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, novelist Jonathan Lethem, and director Steven Soderbergh.^[43] Following the conferral of her degree, Smith delivered the commencement address^[44] and sang/played two songs accompanied by long-time band member Lenny Kaye. In her remarks, Smith explained that in 1967 when she moved to New York City (Brooklyn), she would never have been accepted into Pratt, but most of her friends (including Mapplethorpe) were students at Pratt and she spent countless hours on the Pratt campus. She added that it was through her friends and their Pratt professors that she learned much of her own artistic skills, making the honour from the institute particularly poignant for Smith 43 years later.^[45]

Smith is currently working on a crime novel set in London. "I've been working on a detective story that starts at the St Giles in the Fields church in London for the last two years," she told NME adding that she "loved detective stories" having been a fan of Sherlock Holmes and US crime author Mickey Spillane as a girl.^[46] Part of the book will be set in Gothenburg, Sweden.^[47]

On May 3, 2011, it was announced that Patti Smith is one of the winners of the Polar Music Prize: "By devoting her life to art in all its forms, Patti Smith has demonstrated how much rock’n'roll there is in poetry and how much poetry there is in rock’n'roll. Patti Smith is a Rimbaud with Marshall amps. She has transformed the way an entire generation looks, thinks and dreams. With her inimitable soul of an artist, Patti Smith proves over and over again that people have the power."

On June 19, 2011, Patti Smith made her television acting debut on the TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, appearing in an episode called "Icarus".^[48]

Smith has recorded a cover of Buddy Holly's classic "Words of Love" for the CD Rave On Buddy Holly, a tribute album tied to Holly's seventy-fifth birthday year which was released June 28, 2011.^[49]

Smith is also contributing a track to "AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered", a U2 covers album due to be released through Q Magazine on October 25th. Smith recorded a cover of "Until The End Of The World" for the compilation.

In February 2012, she was a guest at the Sanremo Music Festival.

Influence[link]

Provinssirock festival, Seinäjoki, Finland, June 16, 2007

Smith has been a great source of inspiration for Michael Stipe of R.E.M. Listening to her album Horses when he was 15 made a huge impact on him; he said later, "I decided then that I was going to start a band."^[50] In 1998, Stipe published a collection of photos called Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith. Stipe sings backing vocals on Smith's songs "Last Call" and "Glitter in Their Eyes." Patti also sings background vocals on R.E.M.'s songs "E-Bow the Letter" and "Blue".

The Australian alternative rock band, The Go-Betweens dedicated a track off their 1994 album The Friends of Rachel Worth, When She Sang About Angels in reference to Smith's long time influence on themselves.^[51]

In 2004, Shirley Manson of Garbage spoke of Smith's influence on her in Rolling Stone's issue "The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time", in which Patti Smith was counted number 47.^[52] The Smiths members Morrissey and Johnny Marr shared an appreciation for Smith's Horses, and reveal that their song "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" is a reworking of one of the album's tracks, "Kimberly".^[53] In 2004, Sonic Youth released an album called Hidros 3 (to Patti Smith).^[54] U2 also cites Patti Smith as an influence.^[55] In 2005 Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall released the single "Suddenly I See" as a tribute of sorts to Patti Smith.^[56] Canadian actress Ellen Page frequently mentions Smith as one of her idols and has done various photo shoots replicating famous Smith photos.^[57] In 1978 and 1979, Gilda Radner portrayed a character called Candy Slice on Saturday Night Live based on Smith.

American pop-dance singer Madonna has also named Smith as one of her biggest influences.^[58]

Activism[link]

In 1993, Smith contributed "Memorial Tribute (Live)" to the AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Furthermore, Smith has been a supporter of the Green Party and backed Ralph Nader in the 2000 United States presidential election.^[59] She led the crowd singing "Over the Rainbow" and "People Have the Power" at the campaign's rallies, and also performed at several of Nader's subsequent "Democracy Rising" events.^{[60][dead link]} Smith was a speaker and singer at the first protests against the Iraq War organized by Lou Posner of Voter March on September 12, 2002, as U.S. President George W. Bush spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. Smith supported Democratic candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election. Bruce Springsteen continued performing her "People Have the Power" at Vote for Change campaign events. In the winter of 2004/2005, Smith toured again with Nader in a series of rallies against the Iraq War and calls for the impeachment of George W. Bush.^[59]

Smith premiered two new protest songs in London in September 2006.^[61] Louise Jury, writing in The Independent, characterized them as "an emotional indictment of American and Israeli foreign policy". The song "Qana"^[62] was about the Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese village of Qana. "Without Chains"^[63] is about Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen who was born and raised in Germany, held at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp for four years. Jury's article quotes Smith as saying:

I wrote both these songs directly in response to events that I felt outraged about. These are injustices against children and the young men and women who are being incarcerated. I'm an American, I pay taxes in my name and they are giving millions and millions of dollars to a country such as Israel and cluster bombs and defense technology and those bombs were dropped on common citizens in Qana. It's terrible. It's a human rights violation.

In an interview, Smith stated that Kurnaz's family has contacted her and that she wrote a short preface for the book that he was writing.^[64] Kurnaz's book, "Five Years of My Life," was published in English by Palgrave Macmillan in March 2008, with Patti's introduction.^[65]

On March 26, 2003, ten days after Rachel Corrie's death, Smith appeared in Austin, Texas, and performed an anti-war concert. She subsequently wrote a song "Peaceable Kingdom" which was inspired by and is dedicated to Rachel Corrie.^[66]

In 2009, in her Meltdown concert in Festival Hall, she paid homage to the Iranians taking part in post-election protests by saying "Where is My Vote?" in a version of the song "People Have the Power".^[67]

Band members[link]

Bowery Ballroom, New York City, December 31, 2007

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Horses (1975)
• Radio Ethiopia (1976)
• Easter (1978)
• Wave (1979)
• Dream of Life (1988)
• Gone Again (1996)
• Peace and Noise (1997)
• Gung Ho (2000)
• Trampin' (2004)
• Twelve (2007)
• Banga (2012)

Bibliography[link]

• Seventh Heaven (1972)
• Early Morning Dream (1972)
• Witt (1973)
• Ha! Ha! Houdini! (1977)
• Babel (1978)
• Woolgathering (1992)
• Early Work (1994)
• The Coral Sea (1996)
• Patti Smith Complete (1998)
• Strange Messenger (2003)
• Auguries of Innocence (2005)
• Poems (Vintage Classics) by William Blake.
  Edited by and with introduction by Patti Smith (2007)
• Land 250 (2008)
• Trois (2008)
• Great Lyricists foreword Rick Moody (2008)
• Just Kids (2010)

References[link]