Odetta American black singer and actress. Date of Birth: 31.12.1930 Country: USA

Biography of Odetta

Odetta Holmes, born on December 31, 1930, in Birmingham, Alabama, was an African-American singer and actress. She grew up in Los Angeles, where her mother hoped she would become an opera singer. Odetta took private music lessons while attending college and later worked as a maid. In 1944, she got a job at the Turnabo Puppet Theater, where she worked for four years.

In 1949, Odetta toured with the musical "Finian's Rainbow," which solidified her decision to pursue singing in genres such as folk, blues, jazz-blues, soul, and inspiration. She excelled at playing the acoustic guitar and performed in San Francisco nightclubs. In 1954, she collaborated with Larry Mohr to release her first album, "Odetta and Larry." She went on to record several solo albums, including "Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues" (1956), "At the Gate of Horn" (1957), "Odetta and The Blues" (1962), and "Odetta Sings Folk Songs" (1963).

In 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. declared Odetta the "Queen of American Folk Music." Her early works had a profound influence on musicians such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, and many others. Concurrently, Odetta appeared in small film roles, including an adaptation of William Faulkner's novel "Sanctuary."

From around 1975, Odetta began actively engaging in social issues, particularly as a vocal advocate for the rights of African-Americans. She frequently appeared on television to champion the rights of the black population. These issues also influenced her artistic output. In total, Odetta recorded over twenty-five musical albums, not including compilations of her best songs. She received three Grammy nominations, in 1963 for the album "Odetta Sings Folk Songs," in 1999 for "Blues Everywhere I Go," and in 2005 for "Gonna Let It Shine."

In 1999, Odetta was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the United States Congress, presented to her by President Bill Clinton. Odetta was married three times, to Dan Gordon, Gary Shearston, and Louisiana Red, a singer and guitarist. She did not have any children. She passed away on December 2, 2008, in New York City due to heart failure. Until her final days, she dreamed of performing at the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States.