MUSICIAN

Levon Helm

1940 - 2012

Photo of Levon Helm

Icon of person Levon Helm

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Helm also had a successful career as a film actor, appearing as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff (1983), the father of Laura Dern's character in Smooth Talk (1985), as a Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter (2007), and as General John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist (2009). In 1998, Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer which caused him to lose his singing voice. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 28 in 2024). Levon Helm is the 1,236th most popular musician (down from 997th in 2024), the 6,397th most popular biography from United States (down from 4,848th in 2019) and the 439th most popular American Musician.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Levon Helm by language

Loading...

Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Levon Helm ranks 1,236 out of 3,175. Before him are Tamás Vásáry, Ty Dolla Sign, Larry Coryell, Jimmie Nicol, Eberhard Weber, and Yiruma. After him are Otis Rush, Scott Columbus, Nani Bregvadze, Tony Joe White, Gary Thain, and Szymon Goldberg.

Most Popular Musicians in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1940, Levon Helm ranks 334. Before him are Zhanna Prokhorenko, Carole Pateman, Kishin Shinoyama, Eberhard Weber, Ronald Pickup, and Daniel Quillen. After him are Arthur Laffer, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Zvonko Bego, Uma Aaltonen, Jean-Claude Andruet, and Viktor Savinykh. Among people deceased in 2012, Levon Helm ranks 258. Before him are Isuzu Yamada, Arkady Vorobyov, Othmar Schneider, Susanne Lothar, Bal Thackeray, and John Keegan. After him are Simeon ten Holt, Otto Stich, André Simon, Sancho Gracia, Marie Colvin, and Roberto Mieres.

Others Born in 1940

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 2012

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In United States

Among people born in United States, Levon Helm ranks 6,399 out of 20,380. Before him are Julia Quinn (1970), Walter Piston (1894), Daniel Quillen (1940), John Ottman (1964), Richard Lewontin (1929), William Beaumont (1785), and Jeane Kirkpatrick (1926). After him are Christine Elise (1965), Eddie Slovik (1920), Stephen Allen Benson (1816), James Marsters (1962), and Otis Rush (1934).

Others born in United States

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Levon Helm ranks 439. Before him are Grant Green (1935), Fletcher Henderson (1897), Scott LaFaro (1936), Billy Cox (1939), Ty Dolla Sign (1985), and Larry Coryell (1943). After him are Otis Rush (1934), Scott Columbus (1956), Tony Joe White (1943), Donald Byrd (1932), Michael Sembello (1954), and Joey Kramer (1950).

American born Musicians

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous