Odetta, 1930-2008
Anointed as the queen of American folk music by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Odetta Gordon, a coloratura soprano, was born Odetta Holmes on December 31, 1930 in Birmingham, Alabama. When she lost her father, Rueben Holmes, at a young age, her mother, Flora, remarried and gave the children their stepfather's name, Felious. Moving to Los Angeles with her family in 1936 at age six, Odetta began studying classical music. After graduating from high school, she attended Los Angeles City College where she study classical opera before being introduced to folk music.
In 1947, Odetta began her professional touring in the musical Finian's Rainbow. Her first job as a folksinger came in San Francisco, where she quickly won over audiences. In 1953, when she came to New York, Harry Belafonte and Pete Seeger were instrumental in introducing her to larger audiences. In 1959, Belafonte included her in a major television special, which made her name nationally known. In 1954, Odetta recorded her first album for Fantasy Records. In 1963, she released Folk Songs, which became one of the year's best-selling folk albums.
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| Publication Date | Publishing Account | Status | Note | View |
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2020-10-03 03:10:56 pm |
Joseph Glass |
published |
User published constellation |
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2018-03-05 02:03:50 pm |
Doug Ross |
published |
User published constellation |
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2017-08-17 09:08:23 am |
Dina Herbert |
published |
User published constellation |
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2016-08-09 07:08:54 pm |
System Service |
published |
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2016-08-09 07:08:53 pm |
System Service |
ingest cpf |
Initial ingest from EAC-CPF |
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