Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson was born Jaime Royal Robertson on July 5, 1943, in Toronto, Canada. His mother, Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler, was Cayuga and Mohawk, raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve. His father, a Jewish gambler named Alexander Klegerman, died in a hit-and-run accident before Robbie was born. From the beginning, Robertson lived between worlds — and spent his life turning that duality into song.
As a boy, summer visits to Six Nations introduced him to music. Relatives played guitar, sang, and danced. He later recalled being struck that everyone on the reserve could do something with music. By ten, he was teaching himself guitar. By fifteen, he was playing in bands around Toronto with names like Robbie and the Robots and Little Caesar and the Consuls. By sixteen, he had left home to chase rock and roll.