Odetta Holmes, "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement" and "The queen of American folk music", most affectionately known as Odetta was born in Birmingham, Alabama on December 31, 1930 and grew up in Los Angeles, California.
Odetta Holmes, "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement" and "The queen of American folk music", most affectionately known as Odetta was born in Birmingham, Alabama on December 31, 1930 and grew up in Los Angeles, California. She was formally trained to sing opera from the age of 13. Her mother hoped she would follow in the footsteps of Marian Anderson. Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. Mrs Odetta was important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. She influenced major folk and protest musicians such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Janis Joplin. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dubbed her "The queen of American folk music." Odetta Holmes released nearly 30 albums, many of them live recordings, over her 50-plus-year career, touring extensively, as well as appearing frequently at rallies, protests and other events to further the cause of civil rights. She also acted in many classic films like 1961's Sanctuary and 1974's The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. She revived classic recordings including “This Little Light of Mine (I’m Gonna Let It Shine)” and Lead Belly’s “The Bourgeois Blues,” (Something Inside) So Strong", "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" and "House of the Rising Sun".