Music | December 04, 2008 | 8 comments

Odetta: 1930-2008

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clemwilson
Odetta had recently been hospitalized in New York City for kidney failure, and succumbed to heart failure on Tuesday at the age of 77.

Her blues and spirituals led directly to her work for the civil rights movement. They were two rivers running together, she said in her interview with The Times. The words and music captured "the fury and frustration that I had growing up." She influenced such artists as Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez and countless others.

Poet Maya Angelou once 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."

She was slated to perform at Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009.

Read the full obituary from her label M.C. Records at http://mc-records.com/html/odetta_passes.html
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8 comments // Odetta: 1930-2008

  • lliilly
    • 0
      lliilly  

    • I remember seeing Dr. King giving his "I have a dream" speech on television when I was a child growing up in Houston.

      My mother sang Odetta's song's to me as lullabies.

      I still have Odetta's music on the original vinyl albums. I also have it on tape, cd, and iPOD.

      These were some of the defining moments of my life.

    • 3 years ago
  • travisspace
    • 0
      travisspace  

    • Odetta was a strong, majestic woman.

      She'll be missed, though she has moved many and her influence will extend infinitely.

      A true inspiration.

      “You’re walking down life’s road, society’s foot is on your throat, every which way you turn you can’t get from under that foot. And you reach a fork in the road and you can either lie down and die, or insist upon your life.” -Odetta

    • 3 years ago
  • smurph25
  • huntre
  • kissthisujerk
  • 24French
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