Mark Lavon Helm was the second of four children to Nell and Diamond Helm, born on May 26, 1940. His father was a cotton farmer who also loved music, and the Grand Ole Opry and King Biscuit Time radio shows (the latter starring bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson) were favorites in the Helm household. When he was nine, his father purchased him a guitar, and he formed his first musical band with his bass-playing sister Linda. The couple frequently won talent contests in local bars.
Levon founded his own high school rock’n’roll band, the Jungle Bush Beaters, and at the age of 17, he was invited to perform onstage with Conway Twitty and his Rock Housers band. Levon had taken up the drums by this point, inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis’ sticksman Jimmy Van Eaton, and it was for his percussion skills that he was hired by Hawkins in 1957 to play with his band, the Hawks.
Where was Levon Helm from originally?
Levon Helm is from Elaine, Arkansas in the United States.
