Levon Helm dead at 71, reports say, drummer battled cancer
The late Levon Helm (1940-2012) was a Grammy Award-winning musician, most famously the drummer and lead vocalist for the Band. Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998, and despite the removal of a tumor from his vocal cords and almost 30 radiation treatments, he died from complications of cancer. Credit: AP
Levon Helm, drummer and singer in The Band, died today after battling throat cancer, according to Rolling Stone. He was 71.
"He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates," 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."
Helm died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, according to the Times Herald-Record.
Yesterday, Helm's wife, Sandy, and daughter Amy posted a note on his website saying he was in the "final stages of cancer."
"Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey," the note said. "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."
