Ronnie Hawkins, rock’n’roll legend who mentored The Band, dies aged 87

Ronnie Hawkins and his wife Wanda in Toronto in 2007. ‘He went peacefully and he looked as handsome as ever,’ she said on Sunday. Photograph: Frank Gunn/AP

Ronnie Hawkins, the Arkansas-born rock’n’roll legend who mentored the young Canadian and American musicians later known as the Band, has died.

Hawkins, described in tributes as the most important rock’n’roller in Canadian history, died at the age of 87 after an illness, his wife, Wanda, said on Sunday.