Robertson's work with the Band was instrumental in creating the Americana music genre. He is ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the greatest guitarists. Jaime Royal Robertson [ 8 ] was born an only child on July 5, His mother was born Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler on February 6, She lived with an aunt in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto and worked at the Coro jewellery plating factory. She met James Patrick Robertson there and they married in The couple continued working at the factory and the three lived in several Toronto neighbourhoods while Robbie was a child.
Here he was taught guitar, particularly by his older cousin Herb Myke. In his teens, Robertson's parents separated. His mother told him his biological father was not James, but Alexander David Klegerman, an American Jewish man she met at work. She had been with him while James was stationed in Newfoundland with the Canadian Army before they married. When Robertson was 14, he worked two brief summer jobs in the travelling carnival circuit, first for a few days in a suburb of Toronto, and later as an assistant at a freak show for three weeks during the Canadian National Exhibition.
He later drew from this for his song " Life is a Carnival " with the Band and the movie Carny , which he both produced and starred in.
He stayed with the group for almost a year, playing popular songs of the day at local teen dances. They changed the name to Robbie and the Robots after they watched the film Forbidden Planet and took a liking to the film's character Robby the Robot.
Traynor customized Robertson's guitar for the Robots, fitting it with antennae and wires to give it a space age look. Hoping to ingratiate himself, Robertson stayed up all night and wrote two songs, "Someone Like You" and "Hey Boba Lu", and played them for Hawkins the next day.
