Odetta, Civil Rights Singing Icon, Dies at 77

During the civil rights movement, success didn't just come from marches and big speeches. Music also played a part in documenting the era and sounding the call for change. Singers and songwriters contributed anthems and ballads that served as theme songs for the era and the times. One of those singers went by just one name, Odetta. But for Odetta, one name was enough for her to be recognized as part of the movement, and that is how she is remembered after her death on late Tuesday.

According to Reuters, Odetta, whose full name was Odetta Holmes, passed away Tuesday after losing a decade-long battle with lung cancer. Pulmonary fibrosis in her lungs also contributed to her death. Odetta had gone into kidney failure in mid-November and had been staying in New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, where she ultimately passed.

Odetta Holmes was born in Los Angeles on New Years Eve in 1930. Odetta was interested in music throughout her childhood, but had limited options to pursue it due to her race. Since she could not pursue a classical career, Odetta turned to folk music.

After recording her first album in 1954, Odetta was a folk music star by the time the genre became commercially viable. But it was during the civil rights movement where Odetta's homages to African American folk songs and work songs of the old South became a fixture of the times.

Odetta is best remembered for her work during the 1963 march on Washington, where she sang "O Freedom" as part of the ceremonies. Odetta continued to headline many benefits and concerts to help the civil rights movement, as her songs became part of the era's soundtrack.

However, after the civil rights movement ended in victory, Odetta was less in demand. But Odetta continued to sing for decades as her legend grew. She is said to have been the inspiration for Bob Dylan's folk music, and no less than Rosa Parks herself said that Odetta's songs meant the most to her.

President Clinton honored Odetta with a National Medal of Arts in 1999, then she was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2004 and a recipient of the Library of Congress's Living Legend Award in 2005.