Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and civil rights activist, often referred to as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”.
Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she influenced many of the key figures of the folk revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin.
In 2011 Time magazine included her recording of “Take This Hammer” on its list of the 100 Greatest Popular Songs, stating that “Rosa Parks was her No. 1 fan, and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music.”
In November 2008, Odetta’s health began to decline and she began receiving treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. She had hoped to perform at Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009, but she died of heart disease on December 2, 2008, in New York City, at the age of
At a memorial service for her in February 2009 at Riverside Church in New York City, participants included Maya Angelou, Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, Geoffrey Holder, Steve Earle, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Peter Yarrow, Maria Muldaur, Tom Chapin, Josh White Jr. (son of Josh White), Emory Joseph, Rattlesnake Annie, the Brooklyn Technical High School Chamber Chorus, and videotaped tributes from Tavis Smiley and Joan Baez.
How did Odetta Holmes get into music?
She began classical voice training at age 13, and she earned a degree in classical music from Los Angeles City College.
Though she had heard the music of the Deep South as a child, it was not until 1950, on a trip to San Francisco, that she began to appreciate and participate in the emergent folk scene.
Source: Ghanafuo.com
