_News Talk 770
4/19/2012
Levon Helm, a key member of the rock group The Band who had hits including ``The Weight'' and ``The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,'' has died at age 71.
Helm's website says he died peacefully Thursday afternoon.
Helm and his band mates were musical virtuosos who mined the roots of American music in the late 1960s as other rockers veered into psychedelia, heavy metal and jams.
The group's 1968 debut, ``Music From the Big Pink,'' remains a landmark album of the era.
The Band bid farewell to live performances with a bang with its famous ``Last Waltz'' concert in 1976.
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