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 .

Those who want more could try her bio and oral history interviews here . Shortly before her death, she was honored as music legend by her friends and co-workers. Try some YouTube clips here and here . Try also this 2005 interview on NPR While she lived to see Mr. Obama's election, she missed out at her hope to sing at the Inauguration.

More: Odetta sings The Midnight Special & This Little Light of Mine and Leadbelly's wonderful Bourgeois Blues . The following youtube with links to many more shows Odetta singing "House 0f The Rising Sun" .

Close readers will note that Odetta used no last name professionally. Her name at birth was Odetta Holmes and she used Odetta Gordon (the last name of one of her three husbands) from time to time.