Odetta, the fabled, fabulous folk-singer who was a fixture of the NYC folk scene beginning in the late 1950's and 1960's died at 77 of heart failure after long illness. Long associated with the Civil Rights Movement by those of us of a certain age(She sang, among other places at the 1963 march on Washington), as well as with Art D'Lugoff's Village Gate where she often performed. Links to obits, bio and four excellent youtubes, post jump.

Obituaries from the Washington Post and the New York Times remembered her as a voice of the civil rights movement. (The Times obit has a link to a interesting video clip.) See also the LA Times and Huffpost .  read more »