• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Megyn Kelly RIPS Don Lemon Over Kaitlin Collins Fight, Says She Would’ve Had Him FIRED If He ‘Screamed’ At Her
  • Gladiator sequel gets 2024 release date
  • Knock at the Cabin star Ben Aldridge could ‘breathe easier’ after coming out as gay

Singer and Civil Rights Icon Odetta Dies at 77

Andy Towle December 3, 2008

American folk singer and civil rights icon Odetta has died at 77, of heart disease:

Odetta“Odetta sang at coffeehouses and at Carnegie Hall, made highly influential recordings of blues and ballads, and became one of the most widely known folk-music artists of the 1950s and ’60s. She was a formative influence on dozens of artists, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin. Her voice was an accompaniment to the black-and-white images of the freedom marchers who walked the roads of Alabama and Mississippi and the boulevards of Washington in the quest to end racial discrimination. Rosa Parks, the woman who started the boycott of segregated buses in Montgomery, Ala., was once asked which songs meant the most to her. She replied, ‘All of the songs Odetta sings.’ Odetta sang at the march on Washington, a pivotal event in the civil rights movement, in August 1963. Her song that day was ‘O Freedom,’ dating to slavery days: ‘O freedom, O freedom, O freedom over me, And before I’d be a slave, I’d be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free.'”

The Boston Globe writes, in their obituary: “She was full of surprises in recent years, too. Indie-pop auteur Stephin Merritt recruited Odetta to sing ‘Waltzing Me All the Way Home’ on the 6ths album ‘Hyacinths and Thistles’ in 2000. He later said Odetta had told him she thought the song was about two gay black soldiers during World War II, which was news to Merritt.”

Listen to it here:

A couple clips in Odetta’s honor, AFTER THE JUMP…

Topics: Music, towleroad, World More Posts About: Deaths, News

Related Posts
  • Russia Blocks Facebook, Accusing it of Restricting Access to Russian Media;
  • Duran Duran Has New Music And You Are About To Enjoy it. It’s 2021. Seriously.
  • ‘Mayor Pete’ Trailer; Papa Pete Pwns Tucker; 4-Stars for Dr. Rachel Levine; JoJo Siwa’s Perfect 10s; Lynda Carter’s 8 Wonder-full Words: GOOD NEWS
  • Gladiator sequel gets 2024 release date

    Gladiator sequel gets 2024 release date

    Published by BANG Showbiz English The ‘Gladiator’ sequel will be released on November 22, 2024. The Sir Ridley Scott-directed sequel to the award-winning drama movie is set to start filming this year, with Paul Mescal, 26, …Read More »
  • Knock at the Cabin star Ben Aldridge could ‘breathe easier’ after coming out as gay

    Knock at the Cabin star Ben Aldridge could ‘breathe easier’ after coming out as gay

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Ben Aldridge could “breathe easier” after he came out as gay. The 37-year-old actor – who was raised as an evangelical Christian – announced his sexuality to the world on f …Read More »
  • Florida moves to revoke Orlando event venue’s liquor license after drag queen show

    Florida moves to revoke Orlando event venue’s liquor license after drag queen show

    Published by Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — The Plaza Live, an Orlando event venue that came under state scrutiny for hosting an all-age drag queen performance in December, could lose its ability to sell alcohol, according …Read More »
  • 25 Years Ago: Rob Halford Shocks Himself by Coming Out on MTV

    25 Years Ago: Rob Halford Shocks Himself by Coming Out on MTV

    Published by Ultimate Classic Rock Nobody expected Rob Halford to come out as gay when he sat down for a fateful MTV interview on Feb. 4, 1998 — least of all the Metal God himself. Six …Read More »
Previous Post: « Fired UT HR Administrator Crystal Dixon Files Lawsuit
Next Post: Gay SF Bay Area Doctor Dies in Mysterious Elevator Shaft Plunge »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Beyoncé Could Make Music History at the 2023 Grammy Awards

    Beyoncé Could Make Music History at the 2023 Grammy Awards

  • Behold: The new GOP culture wars | Opinion

    Behold: The new GOP culture wars | Opinion

  • Suspected Chinese surveillance balloon is shot down Over the Atlantic

    Suspected Chinese surveillance balloon is shot down Over the Atlantic

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • Dennis Rodman On If He’d Ever Get Back With Ex-Girlfriends: “I Tried Madonna, I Tried Carmen Electra…”

    Dennis Rodman On If He’d Ever Get Back With Ex-Girlfriends: “I Tried Madonna, I Tried Carmen Electra…”

  • James Gunn Seemingly Confirms The DCU Will Finally Have Gay Superheroes

    James Gunn Seemingly Confirms The DCU Will Finally Have Gay Superheroes

  • Vanilla Ice Admits He Rejected Madonna’s Proposal Before They Split: ‘I Thought The Guy Was Supposed To Do That’

    Vanilla Ice Admits He Rejected Madonna’s Proposal Before They Split: ‘I Thought The Guy Was Supposed To Do That’

RSS Partner Links

  • Jonathan Groff & Ben Aldridge talk “Knock at the Cabin” and film’s queer representation
  • The Voice(s): Jimmy James Returns To NYC
  • C&L's Late Night Music Club: Kurt Vile
  • The Richest Beauty Gurus, Ranked from Lowest to Highest (& the Top 2 Are Worth Hundreds of Millions)
  • A Date With 'Cat Daddies'
  • Tucker Carlson Wants To Liberate... Canada?
  • On the Rag, Vol. 736

Most Recent

  • Megyn Kelly RIPS Don Lemon Over Kaitlin Collins Fight, Says She Would’ve Had Him FIRED If He ‘Screamed’ At Her

    Megyn Kelly RIPS Don Lemon Over Kaitlin Collins Fight, Says She Would’ve Had Him FIRED If He ‘Screamed’ At Her

  • Gladiator sequel gets 2024 release date

    Gladiator sequel gets 2024 release date

  • Knock at the Cabin star Ben Aldridge could ‘breathe easier’ after coming out as gay

    Knock at the Cabin star Ben Aldridge could ‘breathe easier’ after coming out as gay

  • Florida moves to revoke Orlando event venue’s liquor license after drag queen show

    Florida moves to revoke Orlando event venue’s liquor license after drag queen show

  • 25 Years Ago: Rob Halford Shocks Himself by Coming Out on MTV

    25 Years Ago: Rob Halford Shocks Himself by Coming Out on MTV

  • At this school, rainbows are sentenced to prism time and sex ed sticks to the basics | Opinion

    At this school, rainbows are sentenced to prism time and sex ed sticks to the basics | Opinion

  • Japan PM Kishida fires aide over same-sex couple outburst

    Japan PM Kishida fires aide over same-sex couple outburst

  • Rupert Everett claims to know who Prince Harry lost his virginity to

    Rupert Everett claims to know who Prince Harry lost his virginity to

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×