American folk music legend Odetta dies at 77

[BridgeTheGap]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Odetta, the folk singer with the powerful voice who moved audiences and influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, has died. She was 77.

Odetta died Tuesday of heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital, said her manager of 12 years, Doug Yeager. She was admitted to the hospital with kidney failure about three weeks ago, he said.

In spite of failing health that caused her to use a wheelchair, Odetta performed 60 concerts in the last two years, singing for 90 minutes at a time. Her singing ability never diminished, Yeager said.

"The power would just come out of her like people wouldn't believe," he said.

With her booming, classically trained voice and spare guitar, Odetta gave life to the songs by workingmen and slaves, farmers and miners, housewives and washerwomen, blacks and whites.

http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=342111>1=28112

[shrike]

1. Saw her at the Newport Folk festival years ago

Found out later, when I met my husband, that I'd seen a legend in the folk world.

Unfortunately, the guy reviewing for a local rag (who later got hired on by Gentleman's Quarterly) was a misogynist who hated the two female performers (Odetta and Lauro Nyro), while the male performers could do no wrong.

Poor Odetta -- the sound system failed when she was onstage and she had to raise holy hell to get someone to do something about it.

[LeftishBrit]

2. RIP. She will be missed.