
Odetta, New York City, 2007
Photo by Frank Beacham
Odetta was born 91 years ago today.
A singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter and a civil and human rights activist, Odetta was 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 was influential to many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples and Janis Joplin.
Time included her song "Take This Hammer" on its list of the All Time 100 Songs, stating that "Rosa Parks was her #1 fan and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music."
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Odetta grew up in Los Angeles, attended Belmont High School and studied music at Los Angeles City College while employed as a domestic worker. She had operatic training from the age of 13. Her mother hoped she would follow Marian Anderson, but Odetta doubted a large black girl would ever perform at the Metropolitan Opera.
Her first professional experience was in musical theater in 1944, as an ensemble member for four years with the Hollywood Turnabout Puppet Theatre, working alongside Elsa Lanchester. She later joined the national touring company of the musical, Finian's Rainbow, in 1949.
While on tour with Finian's Rainbow, Odetta "fell in with an enthusiastic group of young balladeers in San Francisco," and after 1950 concentrated on folksinging.
She made her name by playing around the United States, including stints at the Blue Angel nightclub (New York City), the hungry i (San Francisco) and Tin Angel (San Francisco). The Tin Angel is where she and Larry Mohr recorded Odetta and Larry in 1954 for Fantasy Records.
A solo career followed, with Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1956) and At the Gate of Horn (1957). Odetta Sings Folk Songs was one of 1963's best-selling folk albums. In 1959, she appeared on Tonight With Belafonte, a nationally televised special. Odetta sang “Water Boy” and a duet with Belafonte, “There's a Hole in My Bucket.”
In 1961, Martin Luther King, Jr. anointed her "The Queen of American folk music.“ Also in 1961, the duo Harry Belafonte and Odetta made #32 in the UK Singles Chart with the song “There's a Hole in My Bucket.” Many Americans remember her performance at the 1963 civil rights movement's March on Washington where she sang "O Freedom." She considered her involvement in the Civil Rights movement as being "one of the privates in a very big army."
Broadening her musical scope, Odetta used band arrangements on several albums rather than playing alone, and released music of a more "jazz" style music on albums like Odetta and the Blues (1962) and Odetta (1967). She gave a remarkable performance in 1968 at the Woody Guthrie memorial concert.
Odetta also acted in several films during this period, including Cinerama Holiday (1955), the film of William Faulkner's Sanctuary (1961) and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974). On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' National Medal of Arts.
In 2004, Odetta was honored at the Kennedy Center with the "Visionary Award" along with a tribute performance by Tracy Chapman.
In 2005, the Library of Congress honored her with its "Living Legend Award." The 2005 documentary film, No Direction Home, directed by Martin Scorsese, highlights her musical influence on Bob Dylan, the subject of the documentary.
The film contains an archive clip of Odetta performing "Waterboy" on TV in 1959, and we also hear Odetta's songs "Mule Skinner Blues" and "No More Auction Block for Me."
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.
On December 2, 2008, Odetta died from heart disease in New York City.
At her memorial service 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, 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.
Bob Dylan said "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers — Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues — in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store.
“Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson. ... [That album was] just something vital and personal. I learned all the songs on that record."
Joan Baez who said "Odetta was a goddess. Her passion moved me. I learned everything she sang."
Odetta also influenced Harry Belafonte, who "cited her as a key influence" on his musical career.
Janis Joplin, who "spent much of her adolescence listening to Odetta, who was also the first person Janis imitated when she started singing."
Poet Maya Angelou said "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."
John Waters, whose original screenplay for Hairspray, mentions Odetta as an influence on beatniks. Carly Simon cited Odetta as a major influence and talked about "going weak in the knees" when she had the opportunity to meet her in Greenwich Village.
Here, Odetta performs “House of the Rising Son” in 2005
Odetta performs “Waterboy”