Influential Folk Singer Odetta R.I.P.

Folk singer and civil rights icon Odetta died yesterday (December 2) of heart disease, according to The New York Times. She was 77 years old.Odetta, born Odetta Holmes, began her professional singing career on the West Coast in 1950, with an appearance in the musical Finian's Rainbow. She was trained in musical theater and classical music, but her interests led her to the San Francisco folk scene, where she got her start performing in coffeehouses. Odetta's career was six decades long, and the a...

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