Sebastian Robertson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sebastian Robertson
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| Born | July 18, 1974 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Children's writer, film and television music producer |
| Subject | Children's literature, Rock music |
| Parents | Robbie Robertson (father) |
Sebastian Robertson is a Canadian-American author, musician, and composer. He writes non-fiction books for children and creates music for TV shows and movies. He is also a studio engineer, helping to record and mix music.
Sebastian is the son of Robbie Robertson, a famous musician from the band The Band. Sebastian has worked on some of his father's music projects and helped release a special box set of The Band's live performances.
Contents
About Sebastian Robertson
Early Life and Music Journey
When Sebastian was a child, he didn't realize how famous his father, Robbie Robertson, was. He just knew his dad as "the guy that made me do my homework." Sebastian started loving music after listening to an album by Peter Gabriel. This made him want to explore more music from his father's collection. His dad would tell him amazing stories about the artists.
As a teenager, Sebastian began to understand his father's important place in music history. He started playing the drums at age 14, inspired by John Bonham from the band Led Zeppelin.
Writing Books for Kids
Sebastian noticed that children really enjoyed music by artists like Marvin Gaye and Johnny Cash, even more than traditional kids' songs. This gave him an idea: he wanted to create a resource to help children learn about good music. He talked about this with his father, and together with Jared Levine and Jim Guerinot, they spent five years creating a book.
Legends, Icons, and Rebels
In 2013, Sebastian released Legends, Icons, and Rebels: Music that Changed the World. This hardcover book comes with two CDs. It teaches kids aged nine to twelve about 27 important music artists. Some of these artists include Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Billie Holiday. The book was named a "Best of the Month" non-fiction book by Amazon.com. It was also listed as one of Rolling Stone magazine's "20 Best Music Books of 2013."
Rock and Roll Highway
After his first book, a publisher asked Sebastian to write a children's book about his father. This book, called Rock and Roll Highway: The Robbie Robertson Story, came out in 2014. It tells the story of Robbie Robertson's life and is for children aged six to nine. The book has beautiful paintings by Adam Gustavson. At the end, Sebastian includes a question-and-answer session with his father. This part encourages young readers to interview their own parents and learn from them.
Critics praised Rock and Roll Highway. Publishers Weekly said it was like "iconic compositions." Booklist, from the American Library Association, called it "insightful."
Sebastian also plans to write a third book about his Native American heritage. This book will highlight eight to ten important Native American tribal chiefs.
Making Music for TV and Movies
Sebastian's main job is composing music for television. He owns a music library called "We the People." This library provides music for about 45 different TV shows. He has created background music for shows like Access Hollywood, Fresh Off the Boat, and Wicked Tuna. Sebastian has also composed music for films such as Walk of Shame (2014) and the documentary Survivors Guide to Prison (2018).
Working with His Father
Sebastian has helped with several of his father's music projects. In 1994, he played drums on Robbie Robertson's music for the film Jimmy Hollywood. He also played drums on parts of his father's album Music for The Native Americans. Later, in 2011, Sebastian added special effects to his father's album How to Become Clairvoyant.
In 2013, Sebastian helped release a special box set for The Band called Live at the Academy of Music 1971. This set included more music from the same concerts that were used for the album Rock of Ages. Sebastian worked on mixing the music. He wanted to keep the small imperfections and special moments that fans love in live recordings. He also found old, never-before-seen photos for the album.
Studio Work and Collaborations
Sebastian has been friends for a long time with Daniel Davies, who is a musician and the son of Dave Davies from The Kinks. They built a recording studio together and have worked on many music projects. They wrote a song for the 2008 movie The Coverup. They also wrote a song called "Rebel Shake" for the 2015 film The Vatican Tapes. Their band, The Bootleggers, performed this song.
Later in 2015, Sebastian and Daniel composed all the music for the film Condemned in just three weeks. The soundtrack for this film was praised as "inventive" and "bone-chilling."
