Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, “a living archive of America’s music and conscience” who inspired the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, has died at the age of 94, US media reported. With a career spanning decades, Seeger was credited with popularizing the hymn of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome” and was known for renditions of songs like “If I had a Hammer” and “Where Have all the Flowers Gone.” He passed away of natural causes Monday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital where he was admitted a week earlier, his grandson, Kitama Cahill Jackson said, according to the New York Times. Seeger played 12-string guitar or five-string banjo. He sang topical songs and children’s tunes as well as anthems, and often urged his audience to sing along. He was an ardent social activist and his career mirrored the concerns of the American left, the Times said. He sang for the labor movement in the 1940s and 1950s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the 1960s. He also intoned for environmental and antiwar causes in the 1970s and beyond. He was a mentor to folk and topical singers in the ’50s and ’60s, among them Bob Dylan and Don McLean. Bruce Springsteen drew on Seeger’s work in his 2006 album, “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,” from Seeger’s repertoire of traditional music about turbulent American life.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 13:52:32 +0000
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