Odetta, African-American folk-music artist of the 50s and 60s died Tuesday, Dec, 2 from heart disease in New York City. She was 77 years of age.

According to the artist’s manager, Doug Yeager, the cause of Odetta’s death was heart disease, which started to decline her health in November 2008 and she began receiving treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

Odetta was born Odetta Holmes, sang at coffeehouses and Carnegie Hall and released several albums. She was one of the most influential folk-music artists and a human rights activist, she also was well known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”. Her musical repertoire consists largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and ’60s, she was a formative influence on dozens of artists, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Janis Joplin.

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