Odetta, the iconic African American singer regarded as the voice of the US civil rights movement, has died at the age of 77 from heart disease. Born Odetta Holmes, but known generally just as 'Odetta', the vocalist sang 'I'm On My Way' at the march on Washington in Aug 1963 where Martin Luther King gave his famous 'I have a dream' speech, and it was widely suggested that she was set to perform again in Washington next month at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.
Holmes was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but grew up in Los Angeles, and studied music at the LA City College. Her classical training led her to start her career in musical theatre, but whilst on a national tour in 1949 she fell in with some folk musicians in San Francisco, and after 1950 concentrated entirely on her folk singing. She is credited with influencing those who drove the subsequent folk boom that saw artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Harry Belafonte rise to fame. Dylan said in a 1978 Playboy interview that "the first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta... Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar".
Odetta herself never claimed to be a folk star, however, telling The Washington Post in 1983: "I'm not a real folk singer. I don't mind people calling me that, but I'm a musical historian. I'm a city kid who has admired an area and who got into it. I've been fortunate. With folk music, I can do my teaching and preaching, my propagandising."
In a prolific recording career, she released more than thirty five albums, and guested on many more. She was nominated for a number of Grammys over the years, and in 1999 she received a National Medal Of The Arts, when then-President Bill Clinton said that her work showed "us all that songs have the power to change the heart and change the world". She toured prolifically, and despite her failing health, still managed sixty tour dates in the last two years before her death. Her last gig was on 26 Oct in Toronto.
Odetta is survived by a daughter and a son. A memorial service is expected to take place next month.