Canadian Music Icon Robbie Robertson Adds Canada Post Stamp to His List of Achievements

Canada Post today unveiled a stamp featuring Canadian music icon Robbie Robertson, part of the third installment of the Canadian Recording Artists stamp series. Available June 30th, the Robertson stamp will share the spotlight with four other outstanding Canadian singer-songwriters; Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Bruce Cockburn, and Ginette Reno. More than one million of each stamp will be available at post offices across Canada.

"We’re proud to be able to add one more honour to Robbie Robertson’s long list of accolades" said Jim Phillips, Director of Stamp Services for Canada Post. "It’s an honour for us to be able to pay tribute to such a prolific and talented artist"

"It never crossed my mind that one day I would be asked to be featured on a Canadian stamp. It is a lovely and proud surprise" Robbie Robertson

Robertson’s stamp features a photograph taken by David Jordan Williams in 1994 as part of the sessions for Robbie’s music project "Music for the Native Americans" The stamps for the whole series were designed by Winnipeg design firm Circle Design Inc. and feature monochromatic photos of each recording artist alongside their Order of Canada insignia.

Songwriter, producer, singer and actor Robbie Robertson honed his sound as a young man in the early 1960s as the guitarist for Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks. In 1965, The Hawks went on to back up Bob Dylan on his groundbreaking Going Electric world tour. After the tour, The Hawks settled in Woodstock, became The Band, and released its legendary debut album Music from Big Pink. Robertson went on to pen multiple classics, and work on many films with Martin Scorsese including Raging Bull, Casino, The Departed, The Color Of Money, Gangs Of New York, Shutter Island, and The Last Waltz.

Robertson has received honorary doctorates from York and Queens Universities, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy of Songwriters (1997), the Native American Music Awards (1998), and the Aboriginal Achievement Awards (2003). Robertson has also won numerous Juno Awards and, as a member of The Band, was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame and received The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, Robertson received the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement and this year he will receive the Order of Canada.

The Canadian Recording Artists stamp series will be available from Canada Post retail outlets starting June 30 or online at canadapost.ca/shop.