Mark Lavon “Levon” Helm, an American musician who rose to prominence as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, died on April 19, 2012.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the Band in 1994.
Levon Helm parents: Meet Nell Helm, Diamond Helm
Helm was raised in Turkey Scratch, a village in Marvell, Arkansas, where he was born Mark Lavon Helm. Nell and Diamond Helm, his parents, were cotton farmers with a passion for music.
Early on, they encouraged their kids to sing and perform musical instruments. At the age of six, he witnessed Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys and made the decision to pursue music. At the age of eight, Helm picked up the drums and started playing the guitar.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Arkansas served as a nexus for a number of musical genres, including traditional Delta blues, electric blues, country (including old-time music), and the developing rhythm and blues movement. Each of these genres had an impact on Helm; he heard R&B on radio station WLAC in Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry on radio station WSM.
He also witnessed the final performances of touring variety acts like F. S. Wolcott’s Original Rabbit’s Foot Minstrels, which included prominent Black performers of the day, and minstrelsy.
