[Sarah Armstrong]

Levon Helm 'in final stages' of battle with cancer
Comments By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY Updated 36m ago

Levon Helm on Dec. 3, 2007 in New York. CAPTIONBy Richard Drew, APLevon Helm's family is asking for your prayers.

In a letter posted on his website, wife Sandy and daughter Amy write that The Band singer and drummer, 71, could use some positive thoughts:

Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.

Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration... he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage...

We appreciate all the love and support and concern.

According to Billboard, Helm, 71, was diagnosed with throat cancer in the late 1990s. Intensive radiation treatment left him with a weathered, raspy voice that can be heard on his Grammy-winning 2007 album, Dirt Farmer. The Arkansas native has carried on a busy touring schedule and hosts "Midnight Ramble" events at his barn in Woodstock, N.Y. But several shows in recent weeks have been canceled.

The Band released its first album on its own in 1968, Music from Big Pink, which included one of the group's signature songs The Weight. The Band followed that with The Band album, which included hits Up On Cripple Creek, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Rag Mama Rag.