On December 2, 2008, the world lost one of the greatest voices of our time. Odetta, the “Queen of American Folk Music,” passed away in New York City from heart failure. Her music, her stunning voice, and her participation in the Civil Rights Movement made her a modern legend, as important to American Folk music as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, or Lead Belly.
Odetta, MLK, and the Civil Rights Movement
Although Odetta had already made a name for herself in musical circles, Odetta shot onto the national stage when she performed at Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 march on Washington DC. Dr. King famously referred to her as the “Queen of American Folk Music,” from which she would forever be known as afterwards. That same year, she performed for President John F. Kennedy on the televised civil rights special "Dinner With the President."
The time of the Civil Rights Movement was also her most prolific as a musician. Odetta released 16 albums during the sixties, lending her deep, booming voice to traditional songs that became staples of the sixties protests. According to Odetta’s obituary in the New York Times, when Rosa Parks was asked which songs meant the most to her, she replied, “all of Odetta’s songs.”
Early Life and Career in Traditional Folk Music
Odetta Holmes was born in Birmingham, Alabama on New Year’s Eve, 1930. Born into the midst of the Great Depression, Odetta was raised among the poor laborers’ spirtuals and ballads of the area, which would later influence her own music.
Odetta’s father died when she was an infant, and with her mother she relocated to Los Angeles at age 6. It was there that she discovered her musical talents and began operatic vocal training.
Odetta got her start in musical theater, eventually gaining a part in the touring company of the comic-musical Finian’s Rainbow in 1950. However, she became very influenced by the local traditional folk and roots movement and decided to change her path to the music of her childhood.
She moved to New York City in 1953, performing in local clubs with her guitar, “Baby” and her undeniable voice. She released her first album in 1954, a collection of live recordings by her and musician Larry Mohr now referred to as “The Tin Angel” after the San Francisco club where they were recorded.
By the end of the 50’s Odetta had achieved notoriety, along with contemporaries such as Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte. She became a matriarch of sorts of the blossoming New York City folk scene, a scene that would soon produce artists such as Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs.
Later Career and Death
By the 1970’s, interest in traditional folk music declined and the Civil Rights Movement lost its momentum. Odetta was largely silent during this period. It was not until 1998 and her album To Ella (inspired by the death of her friend Ella Fitzgerald in 1996) that her career resurged.
Odetta began touring again during the current century, performing often in her adopted city of New York. In 2006, she toured the US, Canada, and Europe. Odetta was planning to sing at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. Though confined in her later years to a wheelchair, she continued to amaze audiences with her voice and presence.
In November of 2008, Odetta became ill and began receiving treatment at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City. Odetta passed away on December 2, 2008, from heart failure.
Odetta’s Impact on American Folk Music
Not enough can be said about Odetta’s influence on Folk Music. In a 1978 interview with Playboy, Bob Dylan said that it was Odetta that turned him on to Folk Music. Odetta was also a huge influence on Janis Joplin, who listened to her as a teenager in Texas.
Perhaps the most telling of all tributes to Odetta comes from Maya Angelou.
"If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time." It is going to be a long 50 years to wait for another Odetta.
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