Odetta papers

ca. 1960-1998

Folk singer Odetta (née Odetta Holmes, aka Odetta Felious) is one of the best-known African-American folk singers in the United States. Born in Alabama and raised in Los Angeles, Odetta was trained for a classical and operatic career at Los Angeles City College when a visit to a San Francisco coffee house featuring folk music awakened an interest in the young singer. Following a long engagement at the Tin Angel in San Francisco, she was booked at The Blue Angel in New York City where she was embraced by the Greenwich Village folk community. Shortly thereafter she appeared with Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall and with Pete Seeger at Town Hall.

Odetta is credited as being an important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, and was a formative influence on artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin. She has recorded over thirty albums, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 1999, and was nominated for a Grammy award for her album, "Gonna Let It Shine" in 2007.